MTC and thoughts about growing older

Well, I have a lot more to catch everyone up on!!! I'll start with dropping Adam off at the MTC. We took Dad's truck out because we had so much stuff and his cab isn't the extended version so the ride out was HORRIBLE!!! Imagine, we had 2 adults (neither one of us is tiny) and a car seat crammed into the back of a truck. And my father is a man and therefore wasn't too concerned with comfort when he bought his truck. So needless to say, the trip out was interesting. But we got there, and once we were there we had a really great time.

The night before Adam was to report to the MTC we had a family meeting which I recommend to any family who has a child about to leave for a mission. It gets the tears out in the privacy of your own home so you're not wailing and heaving for breath in front of a thousand other mothers and sisters. We all sat in my cousin Tara's front room and we each told Adam our favorite memories of him and bore him our testimony. It was the most spiritual experience I've ever had with my family. And it got even better. Dad gave Adam his last father's blessing, and when it was over I told Adam that he should give his mother a blessing. What followed was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had! My brother definitely has the gift of a closeness with the Spirit. He gave Mom an incredible blessing and after he gave the rest of us blessings. It was so amazing. The Spirit was so strong in that room and I never wanted it to end.

The next day we went to drop him off. Haley couldn't be there because of her classes (silly senior trying to graduate) and Tara was sweet enough to watch Tori for us, so it was just the parents, the missionary and Taylor and I. Since we'd gotten all the emotion out of the way the night before, it was only fun while we were there. Taking pictures and watching Mom put his name tag on...it was great. There were a few tears shed when he was hugging us good bye, but the prevaling feeling for all of us was mostly a peaceful pride. He's giving his life to the Lord and we couldn't be more proud. He is now in Georgia and doing great! He's having the time of his life and I can't wait to finally get pictures from him! A few pictures follow...

As I embark on my 25th year of life I have been doing a lot of contemplation. Where am I going with my life and how can I improve it, how can I become a better mother, etc. By starting my new job, I am severely cutting down my time with Tori and I need to have some serious time management when I am home. Fortunately, summer is coming and during the summer Tori won't be going to bed until 8 or 8:30, so I can take her to the park when it's nice because it'll still be light. We will also, of course, have Saturdays when I can take her to the zoo or something fun.

Beginning my medical assisting job is, I believe, a way of improving my life because I am finally going to be putting into practice an education I spent a great deal of money on. I still want to go to school to become a social worker (my dream is to work with pregnant teens at LDS Social Services, surprise surprise) but in the meantime I will be earning enough to hopefully pay off my credit card debts in 6 months or less, after which I can either start packing that money away in savings or go full steam into paying off my student loans. I haven't decided which yet. But I am getting very excited about the path my life is taking.

I have also decided to begin daily scripture study in an effort to get closer to my Heavenly Father and Savior. I have been slacking hard core on it for the past...well, year, and it's time to get off my butt and start being serious about this. I have been lazy about my involvement in the church, and not going to my ward hasn't helped at all. But I have started going to the ward where my records are, the Crowfoot singles ward, and before too long I will hopefully get a calling and start becoming much more involved. I'm glad that I'm finally growing up, even though it's taken me 25 years to get there!

Love you all, more later!

Finally...an update!!

Wow, I can't believe it's seriously been 4 months since I've posted last!! To catch you all up, I obviously didn't end up completing the cleanse. I'm just not strong enough I guess...or I just like eating too much. Either way, it just didn't happen. Oh well, maybe next time! In December a friend from England came out to visit who wanted to marry me. We had a really good time while he was out here, but I came to the conclusion that it just isn't meant to be and we broke it off...well, today. I feel really bad for him because I've been there, but I'm also glad it's over. A lot of stress will be alleviated for letting it go. So anyway, because he was coming out I ended up taking the entire month of December off from work and spent it in Utah, coming home for Christmas. During that time, Quiznos became Otto's Deli, and the owner decided to keep me on as an employee. I started working there again in January, and really didn't enjoy it too much. I wasn't really actively looking for a job, but I was waiting for a good opportunity. 

Well, early last month an email was sent out through HRBB (a yahoo email group I'm a part of) from a woman who was looking for a full-time receptionist for her husband who is a podiatrist. She wrote that if we knew of anyone who was looking to have them email her their resume. Well, I jumped at the chance! I didn't have much experience with...how would you say that? Receiving? Anyway, my only real experience was my Saturday job with Classy Closets and even though I did that for about 2 years it still wasn't much because it was so slow there on Saturdays. But I sent her my resume anyway, hoping that my medical background would count for something! 3 weeks went by and I heard nothing, so I emailed her and asked if there were any updates. Another week went by and I had still heard nothing so I figured the position had been filled and was a little put out that she hadn't at least let me know. But Monday, she called me! She said that they were very interested in interviewing me because he was not only looking for a receptionist but also a medical assistant, and how providential that I have a background in both! So I went to the interview on Tuesday and was offered the job on Wednesday!!! I am very happy to say that I am now in my last two weeks at Otto's Deli and will soon be starting my new job as a receptionist/medical assistant for Dr. Field at the Renewal Medical Center!! I'm so thrilled; the last doctor I worked for, well, we all hated his wife. She would come in and move things she had no business moving, organizing without any idea of how to do it, and throw away food without asking who's it was or when they had brought it in. She tossed my can of Diet Coke that I had opened 30 minutes before! But Dr. Field's wife, Angie, is AWESOME!! I can tell that I am going to get along so well in there and I'm very excited to work with LDS people again! That's right, the doctor and his wife are in the Highlands Ranch stake! It's going to be such a wonderful experience and I feel so incredibly blessed for this opportunity. I don't deserve it but I'm going to try and live up to it the best that I can! 

Other than that, not much else is new. I'm not going to school right now because this economy is kind of freaking me out and I really want to get out of credit card debt before I do anything else. So this full-time job is a blessing times 2 because it'll help me get out of debt so much faster!!!

Tori is still growing like a bean pole...her legs are getting so long! She's having a hard time with her temper right now. Whenever she gets angry or frustrated she doesn't stop to thing, just lashes out by either hitting or throwing things and it's driving me nuts. If anyone has any advice for that PLEASE let me know!!!

I promise I will start doing better about blogging...tomorrow I'm hoping to be able to blog about dropping Adam off at the MTC!

Hugs!