5 state tour! First up, Connecticut.

I am back from my wonderful wonderful trip.I went with my two best friends/sister Donna and Brittney, and their foreign exchange student/little brother Jackie who is from Hong Kong. On this trip we went to 5 different states. So, instead of writing one really long post, I am just going to do it state by state. I can not say enough how wonderful and needed this trip was. Thanks to the amazing, kind, and generous Lancaster family, it was stress free:)! So, the first state we enjoyed was Connecticut. Here is where Donna and Brittneys aunt and uncle lived, and they took us around every where. They were our tour guides the entire trip. They were so cute and so very very generous. They kept telling us that it was our trip and we could do and go where ever we wanted. Thanks to Roberta and Joe, our vacations was fun and stress free. So, what did we do in Connecticut? Well we went to the aquarium the first full day we were there. We went with Roberta, her daughter Christina, and her grandson Ricky who was adorable. We had so much fun watching him and watching our selves. While at the aquarium, I got to pet a shark and a stingray. The shark was smooth, but the sting ray was very slimy. Connecticut is so beautiful. There are trees and little rivers every where. Roberta and Joe even had a little spring/river in their back yard. It was too early in the year, so nothing was too green, but it was still beautiful and unfortunatley really cold the entire trip. So, here are some pictures of our time in Connecticut:

Busy Week

This week is going to be a busy one. I have work and dance for the first half of the week, and then work, school, bachelorette party, wedding, and reception at the end of the week. Oh yeah, did I mention a midterm? I don't think I have a single day to really breathe and relax. Its going to be a fun week, minus the midterm, but it is also going to be a long one. I am so excited for the wedding of one of my best friends Deja to an amazing guy named Lucas! She deserves to be happy and I am glad to finally see it happen for her! New York is also in 3 weeks from friday!!!! SO very excited for that! Wahoo! The savings are going great for my trip, thanks to taxes, and I will have plenty to spend with plenty left over.
Thats all I have for now. I hope I will have some pictures to show next time!!

So very excited for you Deja! I am so happy you found someone who treats you with the respect and love you deserve! Congratulations, and I am honored to be apart of the celebrations this weekend!!! Love you!!

It's Official!

It's official, I am going to New York March 25-April 2! Wahoo! I am so excited, and can't wait until then! Granted I have a lot of saving to do, but I can do it! Thats all for now:)

Far too long....

Its been far too long since I last updated this blog. A lot has gone on and come to pass since I last wrote on here. My wonderful friend is doing much better. She is actually keeping me a float now. My dad got married in November. I now have three new brothers and a sister. I'm not gonna lie though, that weekend was one of the hardest weekends I've had in a while. I sturggled alot that weekend with feeling alone, left out, and stuck. I felt and still feel sometimes, that my family was changing and going in so many different directions, but I was not. Still working on that aspect, but its getting easier to handle now, and I'm starting to come to terms with it. Trying to look at it as a way of getting a bigger support system. Easier said than done most days, but I'm working on it.
Fall semester ended, and I am proud to say I finished the semester with a 3.85! i was going for a 4.0, but a 3.85 will do. I worked really hard at trying to stay on top of stuff this semester, and I guess you could say it payed off.
Christmas has come and gone, and it was a good day. I recieved money for new tires, which I just got this week, my laptop fixed, and a trip to New York! The trip to New York is a christmas/birthday gift from friends and family. If work will allow three of their cashiers to go, I will be going March 25-April 2! I am so excited for this if it comes to pass!
New Years has come and gone as well. Nothing exciting went on for New Years. had a little party at my best friends a.k.a sisters house, which turned into a big sleep over because we were all too tired to drive home.
I think that brings us to the here and now. I am looking forward to the New Year! I am hoping it will be better than the last two. I have three things to look forward to: first is the wedding of my other best friend Deja. I am so happy for Deja and Lucas! They both deserve the best and that is what they are getting in each other. Next will hopefully be my trip to New York, and then a trip to Louisiana to visit the newly weds!
I only have a couple of new years resolutions. The main one is to put my self first. This may sound selfish, but I have spent my entire life doing what makes others happy, while it makes me miserable. My goal is to make my self happy. I have learned from a couple of friends that if I don't do that, I will head into some very choppy, and hard to stay a float waters. I still know serving others is a huge key to happiness, but so is taking care of my self. I will be going to the singles ward starting a week from sunday, and hope to meet some new people (mainly boys:)). School will be starting on thursday and I will continue to try and stay on top of things there, and in the rest of my life.
My last resolution is to continue to exercise, eat right, and lose more weight. I have lost about 25 pounds and dropped 5 pant sizes. I want to keep going and lose about 30-40 more pounds. I just need to get working out again and making it a habit.
Sorry for the long post, but I believe we are all caught up now. Hope all are doing well and I hope you all have a fantastic year! Love you tons, and will try to update more often.

Life....?

Life right now pretty much sucks. I am at a loss of what to do right now. My best friend in the entire world again has no will to live. How can you make someone see that they are important and that they matter? How can you tell someone that God does love all of his children, and that he does not just sit on the side lines? Whenever it seems to be looking like its getting better, something else comes along to hault the progress. I was told that God does not care about us at all. If he cared he would not take away people that we love and keep letting us suffer. He has the power to stop all the suffering and yet he does not. He just stands on the sidelines, or so she says. What do I say to this?
I know that he does not stand on the sidelines! He suffers through every single pain with us. We chose to come to this earth and to feel all this pain. We knew what we were getting into, and yet we still came. I know that we are never alone and that he does not enjoy watching us suffer, but he can't fix everything. Yes, he has the power to fix everything, but then we would learn nothing and never be a strong people. Without the suffering, pain,and sorrow, we would never know what it was like to not suffer or experience joy and happiness. I know all of this and tell it to her all the time, but it is not getting through. I pray for her everyday. I pray that I will know what to say to help her, I pray that she will know what to do to help herself, that her family will know what to do to help and that her therapist will know what to do to help.
I know that this gospel is true, and it pains me to see others suffer through life without it! I wish I could make them see all the good that is in their life! There is always gonna be bad in our life, but there is always gonna be good too! I know we need to more closely look at the good instead of the bad, but how do you make others do this. If all we look for is the bad, then that is all we are going to find. Life is full of so many blessings, and I wish people would look at that instead of the bad. "Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of god and of all men..." "...ye must pray always..." "I cry into my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry." At this time I would like to ask all of you to please pray for my friend! Please help me to "cry unto (our) God in faith, and I know that he will hear (our) cry. Love you all and thank you!

Rollercoaster!

This past month has been a huge rollercoaster for me. I have been dealing with a lot of things in my own life as well as some things in a friends. Sometimes when life gets too hard to deal with we tend to chose unhealthy outlets. Well, i happened to chose just one of those this past month. Something that has always been at the back of my mind, but i never fully let it take over. What is this unhealthy outlet you may ask? Well, its a little something called not eating. It's something that I have thought about for a long time. With all of the things that have been going on this month and this over whelming feeling that life is uncontrolable sometimes, I just decided to control something. I dabled in it for a good couple of weeks, and then the last 2 weeks went full force. It felt so wonderful being in control, and i honestly thought I could stop once I got to a weight that I was comfotable at. Well, thanks to a wonderful friend, and a little time at a lake making comparisons between the two of us an our decisions, I realized that not eating is not a good out. Deep down, I think I knew that once I let it take control, that I would not be able to stop. I knew that it was harmful to my self and eventualy to those around me, but I wanted to be in control. It took a lot of soul searching and discussions with a friend,but thankfully I came to this conclusion before it got out of control. I now need to focus my energy on more healthy ways to feel in control.I am not saying that this feeling is gone totaly away, but I have the realization that this is not a good out and can push it away whenever it decides to come back. I don't need to cut out food all together, I can just watch what I eat and make healthier choices. I don't have to say no to cookies and sweets all the time. I can have a cookie or a sweet every once in a while. There is nothing wrong with enjoying some of lifes tasty treats. I can go running or walking when I feel out of control and can let all my energy out that way. I can also talk to my wonderful friend who has helped me through this entire month!
Sometimes we wonder why things happen in our life and why certain people come into our lives, and we never find out until later why they may come into our lives. I am so thankful for friends and family that I know I can turn to in times of need! I am so thankful for the Lord and that he knows what is best for us, and he knows when it is best for things to happen and for certain people to come into our lives. I don't know where I would be without the gospel and some very special friends and family! Thank you to my Mom Deja, and to someone who will remain anonymous, but you know who you are. You have been there for me through the hard times, even if you didn't know it! Thank you oh so very much! I love all 3 of you so much and am so thankful that you are all in my life!
Please don't let this post send you into panic mode, I just felt it was time to let it all out and try and hold my self a little more accountable for my actions. Once stuff is out there, you can't take it back and it makes it easier to follow through with things you say your going to do! So my challenge to all of you, is to look at your own life and see if there are unhealthy outlets that you have chosen to take. If there are, find a healthy outlet and then tell someone so you can be held accountable for it. Thank you all for being there for my family and I! I love you all a ton and hope you have a wonderful week!

Quotes of the week!

I was looking through a box of books, and came across "Small and Simple things", by Marjorie Pay Hinckely. I frogot I even had this. I believe my cousin Kenny gave it to me but I can't remember if it was for my birthday or for Christmas. Either way, I am glad he gave it too me, and I have come across a couple of quotes that I like. "Who knows but that something wonderful may happen today. Have faith that it will. After all, every morning is a chance at a new day."
"Sometimes the pattern of life seems a little monotonous--and discouraging. It is like climbinb a mountain and, after reaching the top, getting knocked back down to the bottom to climb it again; but i guess the fun is in climbing and not in arriving. I hope so!" I really liked these two quotes and wanted to share them. I have read them before, but it always helps to read them again and again. Reminds us why we are here, and that we can succeed. I love you all, and hope you have a wonderful week!