A Very Merry Christmas

Seeing as the season of Christmas has long since past I decided I would finally get around to finishing what I started. Christmas this year turned out to be pretty good. It was a much needed break that ended up being pretty near perfect. I got to lounge around and read Harry Potter, which yes I have finally after nearly a decade given in and read and which I am actually enjoying very much. I got some pretty awesome gifts too. One being the Elizabeth Gaskell DVD set that I have been wanting for so long and was so happy to get it that I carried it around in my purse for days cause it was pretty to look at :) And as exciting as that was it was trumped by the ultimate gift, tickets to see Les Miserables this coming year when it comes to the Capital Theatre!!! If you know me well enough you'll know that I have loved this musical for as long as I can remember. I love the music and I love the story but I have never seen it before. As you might be able to tell I am very excited!!

A few of our vacation day activities

One of the things that wouldn't go under the pretty nearly perfect part of the vacation was a little trip we took to Southern Utah Christmas day. My cousin is leaving on his mission to Russia and happen to have his farewell the day after Christmas. This was a farewell we couldn't miss so we headed down Christmas afternoon just my mom, sister and I in my car. No big deal right? Well it wasn't that day, but the next day we headed down to St. George from my grandparents house in New Harmony. It had been raining all morning and just as we were leaving the house it turned to snow. No big deal right? It didn't seem to be but for some reason I was really scared about going. I tend to be a worry wart about silly little things like someone else driving my car on the freeway. Something about not having control over a situation or something, I don't know. 

Anyway, I was getting nervous so I just kept saying over in my head,

 "Please keep the car safe and please keep us safe"

I'm glad I included the car in that little prayer too cause no sooner had we got on the freeway then we saw our lives flash before our eyes. We were being chased by a semi that didn't want to get out of the way and let us on the freeway when we started to hydroplane and fly all over the road. We covered both lanes before we continued flying sideways off the road, taking out a construction barrel and at least one tree branch before we came to a stop down a hill wedged among the sagebrush.  I thought for sure we were going to flip over and I was possibly going to break my neck. The very least would be a total car as the only sound I heard was shattering glass and Kylee yelling. Luckily it was just a box of dishes flying around that was the glass breaking and would you believe that the car doesn't even have a single scratch!

I would definitely have to say praying works! :)

My grandpa was able to come rescue us and the car had to be towed out but for scaring us all pretty bad at the time it really turned out to be not a big deal. 

Despite the adventures we could have done without it really was a great vacation. I was able to go back to work fully rested and had the best week I've had in a while. I might actually like my job now but let's just keep that on the DL for now just in case I change my mind :)

Favorite Kid-ism of the Week

As hard as my job can be some days and as much as I can complain about it, there are some things that I love. One of those things is the great things kids have to say. As many of you know the things that come out of their mouths are priceless and down right hilarious!

As part of my job I am on recess duty in charge of the Kindergarten and 1st graders. Their playground area is covered with little tire chips instead of wood chips that of course the kids find absolutely irresistible to pick up and throw at each other. I'm constantly having to tell one child or another to, "put the tires down!"

Well the funny part of this story is that this happened on Friday and when I called the child over to question him this is how it went:

"So, were you throwing tires?"

Silence, which is as good a confession as any but I continued.

"Were you throwing tires?"

Another pause

"Not with my hands!"

Quizzical look

(By now the answer is completely clear but trying to keep a straight face and tired again.)

"O-kay?! Did you throw tires?"

"Well, I didn't want to!"

Again 

"But did you throw tires?"

Sigh 

"Yeah"

Sometimes being the mean teacher has it's perks. If I had just let it go and not talked to him about it I would never get to hear the great excuses. Maybe next time someone gets after me I will just look at them all innocent and say, 

"Well, I didn't want to."

Life Lesson Learned

Due to an unfortunate yet hilarious you probably had to be there incident today at work I have learned that you should NEVER take the lid off a partially frozen bottle of pop. 

Because a large group of our after school extension kids are gone to Clear Creek we had a little party (for lack of a better word) with the remaining lone student. We watched a movie and had some treats. Sounds like the perfect way to end a day to me. Unfortunately we had a partially frozen liter of pop that I took to the sink to open, thinking I'll just take the lid off and let is ooze out instead of doing it a little at a time. I was totally unprepared for the explosion that followed. All of a sudden I couldn't see anything, my hair was dripping ice chunks, my sweater as well as the walls and floor were also dripping with stickiness. 

I stood there in shock wondering what was I going to do and feeling just slightly idiotic when in came my friend Kaitlin. She about died laughing at the sight of me. I'm just glad I didn't have to deal with that cold stickiness all day and I got a pretty good laugh out of it as well. 

Sometimes a good laugh is worth the unintentional idiocy.

Some Serious Slacking Going On!

I have not given up on the blogging world life just seems to be consumed with other interests. Can I just mention how much I love having a little free time in the evenings?! I'm able to go to activities, hang out with friends and finally getting some great reading done! Just last night I finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. If you've never read it I recommend it. Although I felt as though I was never making any progress I was glad because I never got bored and didn't want it to end. I love being able to spend my time with a good book!

I would also like to mention how much I hate TV this season. I'm not a huge TV watcher, what I usually watch is online, but every time I try to watch the shows I usually watch it makes me sick. I've had to give up all but 2-3 shows that I watch because of how bad they have gotten. I'm grateful for this but at the same time am very frustrated that such crap (excuse the language) is not only acceptable but is the norm, almost required for the success of a show. Even the safe shows such as Biggest Loser are so much more frustrating to watch than they are worth. I guess the only thing I can say is thank you Hollywood for making it so easy to walk away!

Aren't you glad to have me back? I promise life right now is going pretty good, I am content and one of these days when I'm ready to spread it across the Internet I'll tell you why :) As for now I hope I'm back from this little hiatus and ready to blog away!

My Favorite Thing

I have a certain accessory that I love to wear above all others. When I wear it it makes me feel classy and feeling classy makes me feel confident. What’s the correlation there? I’m not sure but it’s true. When I need that extra little boost of confidence I always want to wear them and everything else feels pretty good.

I’m talking about my pearls. They certainly aren’t real or anything but I love them. Never has six dollars been so well invested. 

Why Are We So Afraid?

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and 

of love, and of a sound mind”

I hope you will excuse me for a moment as I wax philosophical but I've been thinking about this and wanted to talk about it. 

Why is it that we hold ourselves back from what we really want to do and be because we are afraid? Why is it easier and more comfortable to sit back in the shadows watching life pass you by rather than grabbing the bull by the horns and living your life and making things happen?

I am the one cowering in the shadows more often than not but more and more lately I'm wondering why?

What is wrong with telling people what you really think and feel? What's wrong with asking people how their lives are going? Now I'm not talking about all becoming stalkers and Nosy Noras or telling people they are ugly butt-heads but opening your mouth once in a while and letting people know that you care is something that I think we need more of. 

On my mission I became that sort of person. The one that could tell it to you straight and wasn't afraid of anything (for the most part) and it was liberating. Gone were the days of wanting to say something or ask a question but not being able to open my mouth. They were gone but not for good, coming home brought back the days of being too afraid. It really was one of the things I missed the most but have noticed that the more confidence I get in life the more it's coming back! 

Now it's not all great because I'm sure I've burned a bridge or two and more than one person probably thinks I'm pretty weird but why should I be to afraid to be myself because of those people? 
I used to be embarrassed to have a blog but now I love it. That's liberating. I do things because I want to not because I feel obligated to others. That's liberating. I'm who I want to be not what I think I should be to please others and that's liberating! 
Don't get me wrong there's many things I want to say and do that I keep inside because of fear and there is some of my innocence that I miss. Life is hard and there are countless opportunities to get burned but maybe if we just trusted that things will work out for our good, embarrassing moments and all, life would be great not just good. And I may be wrong but after some time we will most likely laugh about it more often than cry about it and that doesn't seem like such a bad deal. Just remember to act out of love :)

I Swear I'm Not Bipolar

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will probably be ready to start shaking me and yelling, 

"Make Up Your Mind Already!!!!" 

I realize that starting a new schedule can be a love-hate relationship but my pendulum is swinging to both ends of the spectrum on a weekly basis and I've only been in school for two and a half weeks!!

Now this is not a declaration that I love my job again but merely that I have had a fantastic week and I feel "muy contenta"! For those of you that don't speak Spanish you will just have to trust me on this one cause it's the only way to say how I feel. No English word I've thought of gives me the same satisfaction, even the direct translation :)

The reason why is simply because I was productive, social, and outgoing. Traits I've seen before but not usually all together! I've gone to activities, made new friends, socialized with the not so new ones, done laundry and washed my car!

I've come to terms with where I am at in life and that feels really good. It's been awhile and I missed it. I've felt guilty that I'm not going to school and guilty that I'm only working one job and have so much free time. I've felt pathetic that I'm twenty-five years old and living at home.

But, this week I have been free of the guilt and feelings of inferiority and even though it doesn't seem like much I feel that I'm doing exactly what I'm suppose to be doing with my life right now.

Until I figure out what I really want to do in life there is no point in racking up debt and making myself miserable. Being done with work at 3:30 allows me time to do things for others and to socialize which is the first time I have ever wanted to do that :)

Also living at home not only saves me mucho dinero but it allows me to attend a ward that not only I enjoy and feel I belong in but know it's where I'm suppose to be.

I don't know what I was doing with my life for the past two years but it's the first time in a long time that I've felt like this and even if it isn't much I feel like I'm progressing in life and that's a good feeling!

I've missed that!!