Countdown Begins...

41 days

until I will be heading back to California

for Wedding #1.

Erin and Mike Santiago.

I cannot wait to be home.

Although it will be short...it will be well worth it.

See you soon California!!

Oh and here are two of my favorite pictures

of the happily and lovely engaged couple.

I love you both.

I am so excited.

Sweet&Sour.

I title this post Sweet&Sour because

of all the good or bad that is happening in my life.

Maybe some of the bad isn't as bad as it can be...

but it could always be better.

I know that I am going through the "bad" because

I am going to learn more about me and

so that I can grow closer to my Heavenly Father.

I know we all go through our hard times.

And there is always a reason for it.

And we usually do not know why we go through it,

but Heavenly Father knows.

We just have to put all of our faith in Him and trust him

that everything is going to be okay.

So that is what I am doing.

I am trusting my Heavenly Father that he will comfort me.

I will start with the sour and end with the sweet.

SOUR:

1. Homesick.

This past weekend I have been missing home so much.

It's crazy how much.

I am dying to see my family&myBFF.

(You know who you are. I wish I could see both.)

But, only 11 days until my mom comes to visit.

And 47 days until I go home.

I know that as I struggle with being away from my family&friends,

Heavenly Father will comfort me.

2. Dreams of work.

When I first started working at one of my jobs,

I would have dreams that I was stuck cleaning after closing.

Last night, I had a crazy dream that I was cleaning until 4 am.

I was feeling stressed and worried about it.

It was horrible.

Thankfully, Blake helped me through it in the middle of the night.

(He is so good to me).

Hopefully, these dreams will stop,

so that I can get more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep.

3. Stink bomb goes off at work.

Yeah, you read it right.

Last night at about 10:25 there was a loud BANG!

Someone set off a stink bomb in our work.

I was a bit ticked just because I had been working since 12:30

and I was so tired.

We opened both doors to air it out.

Everyone that was inside, left the place.

(I don't blame them though. It smelled so bad.)

My boss confirmed who had did this.

(Good thing my boss has EIGHT cameras in the place.)

Surprisingly, three girls who were probably in there early/mid 20's.

Seriously?

How immature.

I'd expect that from middle schoolers and maybe high schoolers...

but college girls?

At least the stink went away.

SWEET:

1. BYU Basketball Game.

That is right...I am attending the Cougs game on Wednesday.

Blake was so kind enough to get us tickets.

Fortunately, I was able to switch shifts at work with someone.

I am excited to go.

As Blake would say...we are going to the JIMMER show.

2. Church.

Its always amazing to me that when I am struggling

all the messages at Church are perfect for me.

Its like they were made just for me.

And today was just that.

It felt as if one of the speakers was speaking directly to me.

The message on the program was what I needed.

And the other lessons were applied to what I needed also.

I love this gospel and all the little blessings it brings to my life.

3. Blake.

He has been so sweet to me.

He is always there when I need him most.

He treats me so well.

He knows just how to get me to smile and be happy.

I feel so lucky to have him.

4. TWO engaged sisters.

Yes, thats right.

Both of my older sisters are engaged.

Erin and Mike got engaged in January.

Heidi and Steven got engaged TODAY!!

Congrats to both of my lovely sisters and brother-in-laws.

Love you all.

5. Going HOME in...

47 days.

I am excited for Erin and Mikes Wedding.

I am especially excited to see all my family.

I don't know whether this one is sweet or sour.

So I'd say its both...

1. Crazy Work Schedule.

I am grateful and so blessed that I have two jobs.

But, the hours I work on the weekends get crazy.

Saturday is the worst...

12:30-5 at one place and 7:00-12ish at the other.

I am physically exhausted by the end of the day and just tired.

My jobs are really busy and fun though.

I am grateful.

I feel so blessed for everything that I have in my life.

The good and the bad.

Home is Where the Heart Is.

I MISS MY FAMILY!!

Heidi and Steven drove home to California yesterday,

and I was hoping to go with...

but I work 4 shifts Friday-Monday.

I miss my home.

I cannot wait until April when I get to go home for Erin&Mike's Wedding.

Only 49 more days :)

I miss my sisters.

I miss my parents.

I just miss my family.

And, of course, I miss my GMA.

(Yes, these are all old pictures.)

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!

What Could be better than this?

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!

(a day late)

I hope you had just as a fabulous day as I did.

Let me tell you a little bit about it.

Blake and I kept making all of these great plans of what we were going to do.

Here is what our first plan was:

Wake up early in the morning.

Hike the Y.

Then I would have to come home to get ready for work

and he would go to school.

Later that day we would go for a drive through the Canyon.

Then make pizzas together and watch a movie.

We ended up changing all of our plans.

And I am glad we did.

We will save all of those other plans for another day.

Everything we did yesterday was just perfect.

Here is how it went:

We woke up somewhat early.

Went to the grocery store to buy things for breakfast.

We made french toast together.

(I ate more than him because french toast is my ultimate favorite.)

I decided to give him his gift at breakfast.

He loved it all.

(at least that is what he says.)

I am so pleased with how it all turned out.

After breakfast, I had to go to work and he had school.

We met back up at seven that evening.

He had a surprise for me.

I had no idea what to expect.

When I got to his place he told me to wait-

that I couldn't go back to the kitchen yet.

Finally, when I was allowed to..

I walked through a curtain to a romantic setting.

He had put his coffee table in the dining room

with some pillows to sit on.

He had candles lit and music going.

It was just so cute.

He then gave me this...

He gave me some FERRERO ROCHER chocolates,

a beautiful rose, a sweet/funny card, and some socks.

(he knows how much I love socks.)

We then got up and made ourselves some curry together.

Blake is really good at improvising (we didn't have a recipe).

It was so delicious.

After dinner we went to the Creamery to get some ice cream.

Then back to his house to watch Wall-E.

(That was one of the last movies we saw together before his mission.

Such good memories.)

I, of course, fell asleep during the movie.

Here was us after dinner.

(And, yes, we had a frog curtain up behind us.)

I had such a perfect day yesterday.

He is amazing and so good to me.

I am absolutely lucky to have him in my life.

I love him and I am grateful for all he does for me.

<3

Work Hard...Earn Rewards.

This week/weekend was much needed.

Last week I worked a ton and didn't have much down time.

I didn't have much time for myself.

Or much time to spend with Blake.

After a busy week last week,

I was finally able to have some down time this week.

I worked everyday last week (except Sunday),

and I only had three shifts between the two jobs this week.

Which was nice, I will admit.

Yesterday, while I was at work-

I had a surprise visit from Blake.

(Okay, so it wasn't much of a surprise.

I told him to come in.)

After I got off work, he picked me up and took me to a place called "Spark".

It is a restaurant lounge.

The food was good and it was nice to be able to go out with him.

We then saw the movie "Unstoppable" with Denzel Washington in it.

(As Blake would say, You can't go wrong there.)

We then came back to my place and just watched some television and relaxed.

He was so sweet and gave me a foot massage.

(I know....Lucky Me!)

Today I worked a 5 1/2 hour shift.

The place was so crazy.

We had so many different large groups/parties/reservations come in.

It was just really busy. I was only supposed to work 4 1/2 hours.

After work I went over to Blakes.

I was waiting for a call to go back into work.

(Thats if it got too busy.)

I was never called, so Blake and I decided to go to Borders.

We went and picked out a bunch of Childrens books to read.

We sat in a corner and I read to Blake.

We read:

- 6 Dr. Seuss Books

- 1 Pop-up Curious George book

- Chicka Chika Boom Boom

It was fun being able to read some of our favorite childrens books.

We then went back to his place and ate ice cream.

He likes to say I ate a whole tub by myself...

but really...I did not.

There was not much left, so I finished it off.

And we actually remembered to take a picture tonight.

(We will try to get better at it.)

After a good, fun weekend...

I am ready for Sunday.

I love Sundays.

I love being able to attend church,

to learn more about my Savior.

I also love being able to take naps after church

and just relax.

Enjoy your Sunday tomorrow.

Remember who you are and who you represent.

Don't ever lose sight of that.

We are all sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.

And he loves each and every one of us.

Until next time...

Something Special.

HIGHLIGHT OF MY NIGHT!!

At this moment I am having a skype sesh with my girls.

I have been waiting for this moment in a long time.

These girls are amazing and beautiful.

I miss them so so much.

I am hoping and praying that they will be able to come visit me in a couple weeks.

My favorite picture of us...

I love you girls.

You are amazing.

Best Friends.

M&M's for life!!

<3

Dry.

It is SO dry here.

My knuckles have been cracking.

They hurt and burn.

The lotion I had was not cutting it.

So I bought some special lotion that prevents dryness.

It may not look all that bad.

But last week they were horrible.

My knuckles were all discolored and nasty looking.

They are healing, which I am happy about.

And they do not hurt as much when hot/warm water touches them.

So if you plan on moving or visiting Utah...

be sure to bring some good lotion.

And put it on ALL the time.

I am Blessed...

to have a loving&supportive family.

to have great friends.

to have not just one, but two jobs.

to have a place to live.

to have a sweet boyfriend.

to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

to have the BEST parents ever.

to have a caring Heavenly Father.

to have beautiful sisters.

to have a testimony.

to have an education.

I feel so blessed to have all the things that I have in my life.

I cannot help but smile when I think of how blessed I am.

It's not a blogpost without pictures...

Until next time...

<3