Inconceivable and Inaudibly Incandescent...IN!

Last night, I had my interview with Pres. Shaw. I think I learned more in that one hour than I have in the past year. He says I will go into the MTC in April and maybe I could be a temple worker to help pass the time, since I am not looking for a job. How AWESOME would that be? "Don't be surprised if you get called to a really hard mission." What is that supposed to mean?

He said he would turn in my papers this morning, so it's official. "My papers are in." It feels so good to be able to say that. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by people who are supporting me in this. Thanks!

OK, so I Photoshopped this nametag...but soon enough I will get mine!

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High school journal entry from 2002. Our soccer team was required to wear Sunday clothes to school when we had home games. Guess it's a good thing I got over that. My favorite line is, "I have never in my life wanted to swear and the temptation to just gets stronger and stronger every time someone says...dress"

You Can Do Hard Things

You can do hard things. These are motivating and ennobling words. I've heard them said countless times by Pres. Jack R. Christianson (my old stake president and one of my top ten favorite people and authors). My hard things are not the same as your hard things, but we've all got them. I came across the quote below, while cleaning out my scriptures, and thought I would post it to offer some hope to everyone who reads this.

"Into each of our lives come golden moments of adversity. This painful friend breaks our hearts, drops us to our knees, and makes us realize we are nothing without our Lord and Savior. This friend makes us plead all the night long for reassurance and into the next day and sometimes for weeks and months. But, ultimately, just as surely as the day follows the night, as we remain true and faithful, this strange friend, adversity, leads us straight into the outstretched arms of the Savior. I have tried to understand why we must experience tribulation before we can experience the ultimate communication. It seems there is an intense concentration which must be obtained before our pleadings reach our Father in Heaven and, perhaps even more importantly, before He can get through to us. Sometimes we must be straining very hard to hear the still small voice. Before we can be taught things hidden from the world, we must be on a spiritual frequency which is out of this world. Adversity can help fine-tune this frequency." Glenn L. Pace, “Spiritual Revival,” Ensign, Nov 1992, 11

Recently, my hard things have involved understanding patience and obedience. Waiting for a mission call is just that--waiting. Now that all my awkward doctor visits are out of the way, the plan is to have my interview with the stake president this week. Wish me luck!

This is a photo I took after getting my first set of
Hep A & B shots last month. Have I mentioned that I hate shots?

Sacrifice

sac⋅ri⋅fice [sak-ruh-fahys] -noun. "To sacrifice is to give up something we value for the sake of something of greater worth." -True to the Faith, a Gospel Reference

Monday, I gave up my wisdom in order to enjoy the effects of Lortab. Here are some pictures of my fun journey across the wilderness from the dentist's office to my mother's bedroom.

Trying to figure out the best way to attach 2 ice packs to my face.
Ice only helps the swelling the first day.

Mom's idea was to get 2 pillows to help push against my face.
This=not favorite.

Andrea thought to stuff them inside a hoody. Yeah!

Sofie has been a faithful visitor. She's not as cool as April,
though, who brought much-needed Otter Pops!

Reading Baby Sofs a CD cover, which Andrea and Lindsey
made to earn money a few years ago.

This picture cracks me up! I was trying to smile. Really.

The next day (Tuesday), I woke up and felt wonderful!
I showered and sort of did my hair (which is so convenient these
days! I should have cut it loooooong ago)

Can you see my one puffy cheek? Rad. It's my
left-side, so on the right of the picture.
I'm not green, which is cool (yet anyway).

Complete Submission

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." -Mosiah 3:19

Drum Roll, please...I finally turned in my papers tonight. I officially hit the "Submit" button to my bishop. Here is a link to a neat video my friend, Jason showed me. Wish me luck!

ROO-ined or Imp-ROOved?

I am so sick of all my guy friends encouraging me to keep my long hair. You know who you are. Well, game over for you! I cut it today. I all sorts of yopped it off. This has been something I have been meaning to do for a very, very long time.

Before, of course

Notice Shayla's cute decor. Orange walls: who'd a thunk?

We discussed keeping it like this. It could have made an incredible mullet!

This is the "Edna, from The Incredibles Look" (see photo)

This is EMO ROUX. If you look close enough, you can see the
black tears I am crying and hear me cutting...

Experimenting with styles. So crazy! I kept saying,
"Is that my head? It that my head? Oh well"

Pretend this one is not sideways. I wanted to put it up
because Shayla informed me I have my dad's same hair.
It apparently twists the same in the back. This news means
I will probably look just like his mother when I am older.

Still continuing to experiment. I have no idea how to style my
own hair now. Goodbye easy straightening with my flat iron.
I love my new hair! I most definitely think it is an
improvement from my straight, long 'do.

Takin' Care of Business

Hopefully, I will only be around a little bit longer. Here I am going through old memory boxes (thanks to Abby for keeping me company and encouraging me to throw out all my junk).

Old soccer trophies from elementary school. I can't imagine
what made me think I really was, not only a
champion, but number one all these years.

Funny story time: Mr. Dugovick's Science class in eighth grade,
"Dissecting Cow Eyes" Day- I decided, in my little 13-year old brain,
that it would be so cool to keep the cow's retina. Some people have a
lucky rabbit's foot, some keep locks of a loved one's hair.
I have a special place in my heart for cow parts.
I'm awesome, I know. Yes, it's in the garbage.

Mission papers are online these days, in case you didn't know
(Crazy stuff- this "intranets" thing. Yes, Bubba, I stole that phrase
from you). I click "finish" on one of the pages and big red letters
tell me my drivers license number is expired. "What? I typed June of '08,
didn't I? Wait...June? of 2008? Ahh!! I've been driving on an
expired license for 7 months?"

Turns out, you have to take the WRITTEN test and eye exam again when
you drive on an expired license for that long. Feeling like an idiot and
sitting next to a dozen or so 15-year olds, I took the written test and
passed. Want to know the one I missed? Q: How many seconds should you wait before changing lanes after your turning signal is on?
A: If you said 3 seconds, you are WRONG! It has recently been changed to
2 seconds. What is the world coming to? We can't even wait three
whole seconds before merging our cars into traffic.
What's next- microwaving Pop-Tarts and Drive-Thru Wedding Receptions?

Last on my list of things to do before turning in my
mission papers: Visiting the Dentist. I took this picture because
I thought for sure I would have a lopsided face since I couldn't feel my
left side and it felt super puffy. The photo turned out
pretty cute instead, I think.

I hate the dentist. We used to go to this old man who didn't use gloves.
Is that even legal? Now we do trade work with a family friend.
My mom teaches his kids piano, he gets to give me shots and drill
into my face. No taxes for either party!

Now the only thing keeping me is wisdom teeth, which I am
scheduled to have taken out February 9th. And also, I like ice cream...

Yo Quiero 2 Tacos w/ Pink Sauce!

April and I went to Taco Friend last night to celebrate the fact that I am DONE WITH MY MATH CLASS (insert party sounds here)! I told Jess I was going to drive to Vegas to party it up. I settled for apple beer and pink burritos with pink sauce (if you think that sounds gross, you are SO wrong). Then we put in some old CDs from jr. high. I'll get some links to the songs we listened to if I get the time.

We pull up to Taco Amigo and there is a chihuahua ordering tacos! Seriously. Then there are two little dogs ordering. I about died! I had to get a photo. No one will believe me. I put the e-brake on and walked over to the car to take a quick pic with my cell phone. The dogs start barking at me. A woman pops her head out the driver's side and glares. "I'm sorry! I just had to take a picture. This is just too funny!" She didn't think so. do you?

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You may want to turn down the volume to see this video. If not, you'll have to listen to my laugh and 5 Iron Frenzy in the background.