Qs & As

So I have had pretty much the same question on my mind for a long time now and I got a partial answer that, for a while satisfied me but I have had the main part of the answer for a long time, I was just pretending I hadn't heard it. I keep making resolutions and goals to act on that answer but tonight it finally made sense and I finally said to myself, what am I waiting for? Here is the answer: if all it takes for me to find my true love and live happily every after and enter the next stage of life that I feel so ready for is to make myself a better person by reading my scriptures every night why am I not doing it? I am going to do it. It's as simple as that.

That's not the only reason I have finally decided to get my act together and read my scriptures daily - I learn so much from them and I want to learn more I just lack the self motivation. I have been praying for more of that because I feel like the long hours at work coupled with shorter, colder days have made me lazy and unmotivated. Today was a great day - I got a lot of Christmas shopping done, spent the day with my awesome mother, had a great time at the ward party, came home and tidied up my room and still have plenty of time to read my scriptures so why can't that happen every day? There is no reason it can't. The more I accomplish the more motivated I am to get more done - makes sense, right?

I hope this kick lasts and I feel like it will because I haven't felt this motivated in a while and it feels good. I am in a new stage in my life where the routines of school are not governing how I schedule my time and if I don't get a handle on things now, chances are I will never have a good grip on the pieces that hold everything together. I know that if I make the little changes I need to now, I won't have to adjust so much when big changes come along - and doesn't that sound nice?

Fate

So I noticed today that my awesome pocket watch necklace stopped working and my beautiful friend JoAnna told me that will be the time I meet a man. Obviously. So everyday at 10:33:04 I will be anxiously awaiting the love of my life and I will have a second of silence at that time so I don't accidentally speak to the wrong person.

Forget Everything I Said

I've said a lot about what this blog is going to be and I decided to stop trying to make my blog some awesome famous blog and just start blogging for the sake of journaling (in my own special way) so forget everything I've said I was going to do and everything I tried to do with this blog. It's just a blog. And that's that.

This Week in Chalk!

I did pretty good - a new chalkboard quote almost every day this last week! Enjoy!

Scrubs make me Happy!

Today I had a working interview! It felt good to put the scrubs back on but mostly being around the small animals made me A) miss working with the horses B) overwhelmed cause I feel like I remember nothing about dogs and cats. I think the interview went well and even though the clinic is farther away than I would like and it's only part time I am happy to get something over nothing and the people there were super nice. Here is the other thing: lately (as in the last oh two days or so) I have had this feeling that big changes are going to happen soon but I don't know what and I don't know what soon means. I feel that I have matured a lot in the last few years but recently I just feel even more like I am ready for a new stage in my life but I have felt this way before and I don't want to get disappointed if no big changes happen in the near future but I am doing what I can to be open to what Heavenly Father wants me to do and where He wants me to go so if those changes are in my near future I will be ready for them and know when they come. Anyway I don't know what is in my future or when the next phase of my life will begin but I hope I will be ready for my life to evolve when it does. I like where I am right now but I will welcome whatever it is that is in store for my future. Sorry for the very vague, very personal rant but I just needed to "talk" it out so I can sort all the thoughts and feelings running around in my head! Enjoy the rest of your week!

Last Week in Chalk!

So I made myself and cute little chalkboard last week (frame $0.25, glass $2, joy this chalkboard brings me: priceless). And I immediately started skimming Pinterest for cute quotes, doodles, handwriting, etc. I will be trying to change it every day so at the end of each week I'll post "This week in chalk" with all the week's happy quotes! Enjoy!
*If the quotes don't have an author please ask in the comments - I usually just run out of room and figure if I know then that's all that counts but now I'm sharing it with the World Wide Web I want to give credit where credit due! Also, check out my Pinterest for the quotes I use!
Quote #1: Thomas S Monson

Conference makes me Happy!

This weekend was General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I love conference it is so inspiring and up-lifting. I love the atmosphere of being at home on your couch and getting a 4-course Spiritual feast! I didn't get to catch a lot of the Saturday sessions because I watched my sister's two kids Friday and Saturday while they were in Utah for the BYU football game. It was really fun to watch the kids by myself although Friday was the craziest day I've had in a really long time...maybe ever.
Let's just have a little rundown of Friday: spent the night at my sister's to Thursday night so I could get the kids' routine down so I spent part of the morning there then on my way home to get some stuff for the day away from home (basically food because thankfully none of my siblings are plagued with celiac and they don't have the abundance of GF stuff that I find at home) and let the horses out for the day, I took my sister to drop her car off for new tires then have her a ride back home. When I got back to my sister's her husband was home from work and they left shortly after I arrived. Little Miss was awake and Mister Man was napping so we hung out until it was time to wake up brother and eat lunch. After cleaning up we got ready to go hang out at My sister's until her car was ready and I needed to take her back to get it when I got a phone call from my OTHER sister which reminded me I was supposed to watch her kids at the rent's house while she did a photo shoot on the greenbelt behind their house...in 10 minutes. So thankfully the kids were all ready and we rushed out to the car and got everyone buckled in as I called my sister back and told her sorry I forgot I am on my way when she said it was actually a half an hour later than what she originally told me so that gave us a little wiggle room. And we were off like a herd of turtles and we got there right on time and Sis fell asleep on the way - Yay! We hung out and played with the cousins then after the photo shoot they visited and left and shortly after that we went to play taxi and drop my sister off to get her car back. I barely had enough time to do that and pick Mister Man back up from playing with his cousins before going back home to receive 5 more charges who needed to be watched while their parentals (my brother and sister in law) took their friends to a birthday dinner. So with 7 hungry, energetic children (two of which were being very clingy little babies) I tried to maintain my sanity (and not yell too much - which was difficult as I was downstairs feeding the two one-year-olds and cooking dinner while the rest were causing a ruckus upstairs where a movie was on and they couldn't hardly hear me unless I screamed which made me unhappy and caused a soar throat at the end of the night). All in all the 7 dwarves were well behaved and after the 5 left I fed the animals, tucked my two weekend charges into their PJs and we went back to their house to go to bed! Thankfully they both fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep as i transferred them to their beds. I got to relax for a little bit until my oldest niece was dropped off by her mother to spend the night with me just for fun. We couldn't find anything on Netflix that was both age appropriate and wouldn't make me vomit from corniness so we settled on Hachi. Seriously, tear-jerker not the most ideal movie for a slumber party but a really touching story (and yet another reason I need a puppy like right now). So we turned on the Tv after that to see if something more lighthearted was on before we slipped off to slumber and low and behold Fresh Prince was on! Annnnd it was the sole episode of that show that was not funny in any way (the episode where will gets shot and is in the hospital) so after thoroughly confusing my niece by trying to convince her that the show that has Will Smith crying in a hospital bed was once the epitome of awesome we decided on some Disney Channel show that I felt pretty safe about being entertained by because it lacked Ashley Tisdale and had the Mowry twins in it. I soon started falling asleep and ended my very very long day with a peaceful slumber in the oober comfy guest bed of my sister's house.
Phew. I am exhausted just reliving that day! It gave me a taste of how crazy busy and hard a day in the life of a stay-at-home mom can be and honestly I really enjoyed it - I felt like overwhelmed at times but like I could still handle it and I had fun, I enjoyed spending all day with munchkins. I can't wait for the day when I get to become a mother!
Saturday after a quiet day with the kids, their parents came home and picked them up and I got picked up for a hockey game with two of my sisters and their families. Sunday I enjoyed Conference at home with some killer meals! Then I went to sister's to eat Taco Soup for dinner and hang out.
Today I got back into my routine - woke up early(ish), fed the horses, took the girls to school then came home. I watched my sister's kids while she went to the doctor then I got picked up to go to the mall for an all day shopping trip with my sister and her kids where she helped me find my blouse for our family pictures this year! We had a great time, the kids behaved well and we got home in time for my dinner date with my grandparents to P.F. Chang's (yum)!
Now I'm settled at home for my last night alone before the rents get back from their trip to Seattle and the house is not holding back with the creepy noises erupting from downstairs. Watching crimes shows is probably not the best thing to keep me feeling secure but I like watching them so whatevs. Writing all this makes me feel pretty confident that I love my life and I am very very blessed!

Pizza Makes Me Happy!

Although eating gluten free does not make me happy, it has its advantages. For one, I don't wreak havoc on my intestines anymore and I don't eat a lot of junk food - chips, donuts, cookies, pizza, etc. And although it does not mean my body absorbs vitamins any more/better than it did before at least I discovered that I needed to supplement certain vitamins when I was diagnosed with Celiac disease. Anyway back to the purpose of this post I don't get to eat a lot of the junk foods and treats I used to enjoy on occasion which is good because it keeps me from eating stuff that is bad for me and only makes my struggle with weight loss that much harder but sometimes I just want a donut or a bakery cupcake so bad that it makes me really bitter and irritable. I think the worst part is that I was diagnosed at 18 so I knew full well how good all that "bad-for-you-food" tasted and I know any gluten-free option will never taste the same. Once again I've gotten off track where was I...oh yes! Gluten free options are extremely expensive and frankly not worth it most of the time but once in a while it is nice to eat some kind of semi-normal treat. Mom's Place Gluten Free is the best thing I've discovered thus far for eating gluten free - they have cream of chicken soup mixes!! Yeah, it's true! Their prices are reasonable and their products are definitely worth it! Cup-o-Cake: best thing since sliced bread but that's a discussion for a different day. ANYWAY I made a pizza crust from a Mom's mix the other day and I wanted to make the toppings BOMB since I don't get pizza often - might as well make it rock right? So I made a homemade BBQ sauce with caramelized onions stirred in, grilled chicken and a little cheese on top of the sauce and after it all cooked I added fresh sliced tomatoes from the garden on top and it was fantastic! Made me happy for like 3 days. Also what made me happy was the occasion - my parents were having my grandparents over for pizza and their weekly pinochle game :) I just love that they do that together! Have a happy hump day!

So much for that...

So apparently a weekly blog theme is not enough to keep me motivated to write but I need to figure something out because I need this little avenue to share my creativity. I am just not one of those people who does something cool and then thinks hey let me take a picture so I can tell the universe about it and probably no one will ever read it. Oh well, no heavy stuff for a while I have too much of that on my brain right now to bother the Internet universe with it. Just random thoughts and fun things, happy things. After all, that's the title of the blog right?

Things that have made me happy lately:
My grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary party and interviewing all the little ones for a video for it :)

Bauer responding to some of the training I've been working on with him :)

Riding my horsie :)

Ice cream and giant foam dominos :)

Crocheting cute hats for the winter :)

Playing guitar :)

Pomegranate tootsie pops! :)

Watching "I'm a Mormon" videos and freshening up my profile :)

From now on that's just it - what makes me happy and how I get happy when things are not going splendidly :)

Thursday Think Tank

So I am a really random person and I decided to keep myself motivated to write on this blog at least weekly I will write some of my random thoughts every Thursday - here goes:

Why on earth would anyone have a garage sale that starts on a Wednesday? (that question is for you, weird people in my neighborhood)

I cannot think of a single instance in which talking about the weather would be deemed inappropriate.

Why do people think they should hashtag their entire Facebook status or picture caption? You will never get #omnomnom #lol #hungry trending on Twitter, sorry but it just won't happen.

Also, my iTunes customer support helper dude (who is persistent in knowing what he can do to help my already resolved problem) is named Boom.

Finally, I think the new Google "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" feature is probably the best thing I've ever encountered on the internet.

Crazy Days!

We had a great time visiting the cousins in Utah and the new babies are just so precious! The traveling was long and a bit boring but I enjoy the car rides with my mom - we always have something to talk about. Life has been crazy since we got home from Utah! Monday we rode horses which was great after we shuffled saddles around and made ourselves comfortable then we had a family BBQ in the evening which was a lot of fun and the horses were good sports to give pony rides to the kids (some of which I am ashamed to say had never ridden our mounts until last night) and everyone had a great time! We stayed and helped clean up the kitchen and the kids so Rob and Julie could take a ride back to our house to see the newly decorated bathroom. I stayed with the (supposed to be) sleeping children and rocked a cranky baby to sleep but she ended up catching the stomach bug that's been migrating through our family and threw up all over. I am not good with throw up. My reflexes are thankfully very good and I managed to stay clean and keep any of the mess off the couch and ottoman. Luckily the naughty children who were supposed to be sleeping came running upstairs to my aid for which I was extremely grateful! And they made sure I would pass my gratitude on to their mother who would no doubt be happy to know they were still awake for a worthwhile reason. Today was another crazy day - riding, babysitting the original sickies in the family (who are thankfully feeling better - splendid and fantastic in fact, in Max's own words) then I filled out an application to a janitorial service in Boise that is looking for about 50 people to help clean the temple until the open house after all the remodeling that has gone on. I hope I get it - what a cool opportunity to get to see places in the temple I've never seen before! It is also nice that it is a temporary position so I can look for a more permanent job at a vet office but not be completely broke in the meantime. After that we took my brother's oldest two girls to watch a cutting horse competition at the Idaho Center Horse Park which was fun! Unfortunately we only saw a short part before they broke for dinner then we went grocery shopping, had dinner, I went to Tyson's soccer practice then we rode again! It was a fun fun day - being unemployed isn't too bad :) yet.

Happy weekend :)

The bride was beautiful yesterday! And yes, I cried. After a few pictures with the wackiest, rudest photographer I've encountered I got some peanut butter slope from BRC's (best frozen custard in the entire world!) and then we were on the road again heading down south to Utah! We shopped at Ikea and got a milkshake from In and Out on our way down to see the fam - which I was so excited about! As we were shopping around I got a text from one of my favorite people (Megan who was in the vet tech program with me) asking if I was still down to move to Utah sometime which I had just started thinking about two days earlier! I am really excited because I think it will be a fun place to live and a great little adventure for me to experience while I'm single! I would be close to family and not to far from home and it is something I can't wait for! I know Heavenly Father wants me in Utah because He just won't let me forget about it and I am happy to obey! Anyway once we got to our destination in Utah we visited for a whole then all the girls went out to dinner - the babies are so so cute I loved meeting my new cousins and seeing the other older cuties. We got to visit and play with the newborns all evening and it was great! Today is Bryce's blessing then we head back home - I wish we could stay longer because I just love these people! Family is the greatest blessing!

Mawage..mawage is what bwings us togevew today

Well my last day of my internship was today and it was a half day! Woo hoo! I am sad I just love those people and that place but it was a very positive end to a very positive experience and I'm glad it happened! I am excited to have some time off right when the weather is perfect for riding! Especially since I just got a new saddle! So what does any of this have to do with marriage you say? Well I took a half day today so I can travel with mi madre to the eastern side of the state to be in a wedding tomorrow! Yay! This is the first wedding I've been in that hasn't been for a sibling - I am so excited! I love weddings! I love love! This is my good friend Noel's wedding - she was my first good friend I made when we moved to Idaho and I love her dearly even though we fought like sisters in our less mature days we have always been there for each other in the really hard times in each other's lives. I was there for her when her parents got divorced and she faces the horror of become another number in the statistics of a broken home. My heart broke for her and her family but they have all done well with it and I am so happy she will have a wonderful marriage to a sweet guy who really cares about her! She was there for me when I was homesick and miserable my freshman year of college when I had a terrible roommate experience and she was the only one I could find in town that would remind me of home and the people who love me most. She is wonderful and I am so happy for her and her new husband. I am so proud of her for setting a good example for her younger sisters by getting married to a good man in the temple. She has been such a good example to me in so many ways and I can't wait to see her live happily ever after!

Today was...

A bit of a melancholy day. Now knowing it was my second to last day (and my last full day) at my internship
I took greater appreciation in many things there. The following may be a little too dramatic for the actual situation but sometimes my thoughts sound more like poetry than normal thoughts so I'm sharing the more artsy side of my mind when I write this. I was laughing just the other day thinking how I could recite Dr. B's Africa hunting story just as well as he could after hearing it so many times then today I realized I would probably never hear that story again and wished I could hear him tell it one more time while the aroma of chewing tobacco that always followed him was still within smelling distance. I wished I could rush to help Dr. P with whatever he needed only because he asks so nicely. I wanted to savor every Spanglish conversation and every awkward but sweet kiss on the cheek from my Latino friends who always made me feel welcomed and appreciated. I wanted to record Dr. W's sweet southern drawl comforting a horse and calling her sweetheart so I could hear it again on a rainy day (I also wanted a picture of his beautiful, single face but it crossed my mind that that may be out of line). I will actually miss folding those dang blue towels and packing surgery packs as tight as I can without ripping the drapes. And my supervisor - oh how I will miss her stories of chaos and humor and her confidence in my abilities, her patience in my learning. I will miss seeing these amazingly talented and beautiful creatures that God has put on earth as His way of reminding us that He loves us enough to put beautiful creatures such as these in our care. I love horses and I have loved having the opportunity to learn more about them from wonderful doctors and staff. Even though my heart is saddened by my end of work at this wonderful hospital, I know something even more amazing must be in my future!

Below is a picture from last year's internship but at the same clinic. It's gross, I know, but I love this picture - if you know what I'm holding kudos to you (don't judge me for taking a picture). :)

New Blog! *revision*

So initially I had a blog my first semester of college to keep my family up-to-date. Great. I talk to them like 7 times a day so why would they have to read what I'm doing when I just tell them? Conclusion: they don't and I didn't keep up with it. Next, I made an awesome new recipe and decided to make a blog to share it with the world via Pinterest. Awesome now I have a crafty blog and no time for crafts. Finally I decided this is just going to be a blog for me to just write (and occasionally post some crafty stuff when I have the time to be crafty again). I enjoy writing and I have a lot of thoughts and feelings I just need to get out because I'm terrible about keeping up with my journal and I feel like I'm at a crazy time in my life when writing thoughts and feelings down will only benefit me. Let's see how this goes - I give it at least a few more posts than the others before it fizzles out but let's be hopeful folks! Long live the blog!

Life Happens

I need to give up on making plans because clearly Heavenly Father has something in mind for me better than whatever the heck I've got going on. The plan was go to college, find my soul mate, live happily ever after. Plan got revised to graduate college, get offered a job at my internship site, make enough money to manage car payments, focus on finding that guy from plan A and then live happily ever after. Now I really don't know what to do except have faith that my Heavenly Father does indeed have a plan for me that I agreed to and that I will learn from and love. It is really hard. I'm not even a full 24 hours into it yet. Being an unemployed college graduate (technically this is what I have been for a month now but I was still expecting plan 2 to work out and get a job offer after my internship so i never considered myself as such and today I found out that won't happen) is not cool. In fact, it pretty much wreaks. Ughhhh I'm so stressed tonight. I wasn't planning on having to job search at all and now here I am looking at having nothing to do but that after Friday. I guess the only thing left to say is just "Jesus take the wheel" cause quite frankly I don't have a car to drive.

*Sidenote: I am really glad that the above happened when, where and how it did - I am a happy BYU-I college graduate. Also, I love my family.*

Pancake Bites

When I make gluten-free pancakes they are always really dense and they don't cook evenly. It's a major bummer (I'm not a huge fan of gluten free) but I still want pancakes from time to time and I'd rather they not be gross. Today I was cleaning up the kitchen and noticed my neglected mini-muffin pan - lightbulb! I decided to use the last of my pancake mix (that I didn't really want to use for pancakes since they were gross) and make pancake bites. I made the mix, greased the pan and pre-heated the oven and they came out great!! Here are the instructions for making pancake bites:

Make pancakes according to directions (I used what it said to use for 4-6 pancakes) add a little vanilla (or whatever else you like to use in you pancakes I always add vanilla because I find the gluten-free pancakes to be pretty plain). Whisk in 2 Tablespoons of light corn syrup. Bake at 350 for 10-11 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the middle of one. Allow to cool and enjoy with your favorite pancake syrup!

New Blog!

So I decided to create a new blog for all my craftiness to be shared with the world. Mostly because I had something I wanted to post on Pinterest and needed a cute blog for it to direct people to. After my next post there probably won't be another one until after I graduate and actually have time to craft. Anyway that's the story of my new cute blog! Enjoy!