Life Unexpected

The other day I was reading the book Spare Change and came across this quote by E.M. Forster. I decided this was a main theme in my life and it seemed appropriate as the title of the blog. Hope you all agree!

What's in a Name???

So as many of you know, I've been searching for a new title to my blog since many of my readers have commented that my life is not boring. So today I decided to call the blog Floccinaucinihilipilification. By definition, floccinaucinihilipilification means to estimate something as worthless. Now I'm not necessarily suggesting that I feel like my life is worthless, which is why I didn't call my blog The Floccinaucinihilipilificatious Life. It's mostly that I just wanted a really fun word as the title of my blog and The Egregious Life is less accurate than The Boring Life. I'm seriously taking suggestions. It's too much of a mouthful to leave my blog title as Floccinaucinihilipilification for too long. Time to comment people!! Find me a less boring, shorter blog title!! There will be a small prize for the winner... probably just a shout out in future posts!!

Courage In Action: My two days as a Secret Agent (sorry it's really long)

As most of you know, my church calling is Laurel Advisor, which means I get an awesome opportunity to attend Youth Conference with the girls. This year the stake chose to make us secret agents in the CIA, which stands for Courage in Action. The YM/YW theme scripture this year is Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed for the Lord thy God is with thee, withersoever thou goest." They decided to emphasize what it means to be of good courage and taught us a lot about how courage requires action. We started at one of the buildings in our stake and received our special CIA T-shirts. After we had changed, one of the counselors in the Stake Presidency, President Farrell, welcomed us and we we were split into 7 color groups. I was in the green group with all of my girls and all of the Young Women leaders from our ward and then a few other young men and young women and leaders from other wards. The Stake Youth Leaders began with a skit where one person was the head and body, one was the arms and one was the legs. They had to get ready for the day and it was very enjoyable to watch someone else's arms feed, brush the teeth of, and otherwise prepare the face they couldn't see. The lipstick was probably my favorite part. Poor Natalie had lipstick all over her chin. Wish I had pictures, but the camera was in the car... dumb dumb dumb. After the skit we played get know you games with our groups. We all took group pictures and then loaded up the cars and headed up to the Ogden Boys and Girls Club for service. The Ogden Boys and Girls Club is a nonprofit organization that caters to the inner city kids. These kids have been through things I never even imagined when I was their age, but oh, the sweetness inside. They started at age 5 and went up to 12. The green group was paired up with about 10 kids ages 7-9. A lot of the kids are hispanic and bilingual. One little girl didn't speak any English, but luckily one of the leaders in our group did, and he helped her to communicate. We played the getting to know you games with them, then split for lunch. After lunch, we went through 8 different stations with the kids. They had tug-o-war, basketball, face painting, tag, slip n' slide, a parachute, the sponge passing game (you know wet sponge over your head and see how much water you can collect in a bucket), and then a station with popsicles and a rest. We then took a group picture with our kids and then the Boys and Girls Club leader came and talked to the kids about how special it was that we would come to play with them. It was an amazing experience and I think all of our youth left with a slightly bigger heart and a place in there for a new favorite. Some of those kids were just too cute!! When we were done at the Boys and Girls club, we headed up to our stake camp Zarahemla. We set up our cabins and then headed down to the lodge for dinner.

After dinner, President Wurthrich from our Stake Presidency talked to the youth. He told a story about an Emperor who knew he didn't have much longer to live, so he sent out for all the young people in the empire and gave them a task. He gave each one a seed. He told them to take the seed home and plant it and nurture it and take care of it, and then come back with whatever they grew, in one year and at that time he'd choose who would take his place as emperor. Well, in the empire was a boy named Ling. Ling did just what the emperor said, and took his seed home. He told his mother about the Emperors challenge and she helped Ling find a pot and plant the seed. In two weeks, after Ling had spent time watering, and nurturing his seed, nothing had grown. In a month nothing had grown. In six months nothing had grown. All around Ling, the other youth in the empire were talking about what was growing in their pots and Ling began to feel like a failure. His mother told him to wait a little longer to see what happened. The year quickly passed, and nothing had happened with Ling's seed. He was discouraged, and didn't want to go back to the emperor knowing he was a failure, and now everyone in the empire would know it as well. When Ling got to the palace, there were many young people with all different kinds of trees, shrubs, and flowers. Ling hid in the back, half concealing his pot full of dirt. When the emperor entered the room, Ling shrunk back a bit more, afraid of what the emperor would say when he found out that Ling had failed. The emperor walked through the room, noticing and commenting on the beautiful plants around him. He then walked to the front of the room and called Ling up to join him. Ling was frightened. He was sure the emperor would make an example of him and could only imagine what his punishment would be. To his astonishment, the Emperor announced to everyone, that Ling was their new emperor. He told them that the seeds they had been given had been boiled, so they would not grow. Ling was the only one who kept the original seed. The rest had noticed that their plants were not growing, and so planted other seeds in their place. Ling's integrity and honor won him the role of emperor and he ruled honestly the rest of his life. President Wurthrich then talked about virtues that are important in our lives. He quoted from President Faust and talked about 10 virtues that are very important. Exercise Faith, Be honest with yourself, Be chaste, Be humble, Develop self-discipline, Be fair, Strive for moderation, Be clean, Live with courage, and Grow in Grace. At this point the youth were blindfolded and led to an iron rod at the end of the camp. Several leaders were chosen to help them through the path as Guardian Angels. I was one of those. At the beginning, two young women Presidents greeted each youth and gave them a charge to hold fast to the rod no matter what else happened for the rod would lead them on their journey. They were given a pebble that represented unresolved sins and told to put it in their shoe. They were also given an egg, that they were told represented their virtue and they were all given instructions to guard their virtue. Then their hand was placed on the rod and they began their journey. I was right near the beginning. My job was to tell each one that they had been baptized and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. I was also to help them stay on the path. Along the way, were deceivers. They were the members of our stake’s young single adult ward. Their job was to lead the youth off the rod and to try to get them to give up their virtue egg. The youth came in two groups. I noticed a couple of key things. When the first group came through the deceivers weren’t quite as sneaky as on the second group. They would try to outwardly deceive the kids and a lot of them fell for it, but as we got further along less and less kids were falling for it and the deceivers got sneakier. It surprised me, how many kids early on gave up their eggs for a chance for help. The deceivers would say something like, “there’s a big hole here, so let me hold your egg and I’ll help you around it.” Needless to say the kids didn’t get the egg back. Each time one of the deceivers would get one of the eggs they would hold it up triumphantly and kind of laugh. I wanted to cry! It was so easy. By the time the second group came up, I had gotten a lot more insistent on my end. Instead of just telling them they’d been baptized and had received the gift of the Holy Ghost, I would add that it was so so important that they keep their hand on the rod and hold onto their egg no matter what else they were told. The deceivers got better too. They started helping the kids find the rod and then once they’d gained the trust of the kids they’d lead them off the path and you wouldn’t believe some of the tactics they were using. I heard one of them tell a girl that she could have temple marriage if she’d just give him her egg. A gleam of triumph and the deceiver was holding up her egg. It was so unbelievably heartbreaking to see each of the youth go through and I just hoped in my heart that they’d have the faith to remember my words and keep their hand on the rod. At the end of the rod, stood the Bishop of each ward. He took the youth off the rod and handed them off to a guardian angel to help them off to the “Spirit World.” The Spirit World was at the top of a hill where the Stake Presidency was waiting to welcome each of the youth in. Some had sticks instead of eggs, given to them by their deceivers. Some held fast to their virtue and were clutching it at the end. At the top of the hill they were given an opportunity to sit alone and write their feelings. It was so amazing to see and hear about their experience on the rod. We followed the experience with a very emotional testimony meeting. I was so humbled by the strength of our youth. Even the ones that were deceived into giving up their virtue, learned a very important lesson and I hope walked away from the experience a little more aware of how sneaky Satan can be. We finished the night off with scones and honey butter and a slide show of the days activities provided by our resident photographers Papa Rat See and Watt Chin Ewe. It was a great end to a great day. We went back to the cabins and luckily it was a warm night so sleeping was okay. I didn’t need my sleeping bag to sleep in, so I laid on top of it with a blanket and used the sleeping bag for padding on the wooden bunk. Not the most comfortable bed, but I did okay. Holly woke us up at 7:30 this morning singing Rise and Shout the Cougars are out… and I’ve had the song in my head all day!! That’s for you Andrew! We went down to the lodge for breakfast which was amazing!!! Big thanks to the cooking staff… we did not go hungry! After breakfast we had a devotional where the Stake President, President Martin and his wife shared with us the importance of being awakened. Sister Martin talked about King Benjamin’s people and about Enos. She related their experiences to ours as we read the pages of the Book of Mormon and feel the awakening that reminds us of our responsibility for action. They then discussed a few experiences of giving someone a Book of Mormon, and then encouraged us to write our testimony in a Book of Mormon to give to someone. President Martin said that our role was to be rescuers. We need to rescue those who are in need of being rescued even if that was us. He told us not to give away our Book of Mormon if we didn’t have a testimony of it yet, because it was going to be very important that we testify of it. He told the youth that they could write the message in the book to themselves if that was who they felt needed the rescue.

After we were finished putting our testimonies in the books, we broke up into our color groups and played Minute to Win It. For those of you unfamiliar with the game show on TV, you have some silly, somewhat ridiculous challenges that you are required to finish in one minute. On the show it’s one contestant competing against the clock for money. At Youth Conference we did it in teams and competed for ribbons. We had three attempts at each of 12 stations to accomplish the task in less than a minute. I did get some pictures of this, but I think I’ll do them all in a slideshow so you can look if you choose. The stations all had some pretty funny names, only a few of which I remember, but I’ll make it so you get the general idea. The first one was called Paper Scraper. We had 18 index cards folded in half and 9 index cards that were flat. We had to make three skyscrapers 9 stories high by putting the two folded ones down facing each other and then the flat ones on top stacked up. We did pretty well, got two out of three ribbons. The next one was called spoon frogs. We each had 3 spoons and had to flip them into a bin in the middle of the table. We had to get 12 spoons in before the minute was up. I was really good in the beginning. I got 2 spoons in right away, but beginners luck was the key. Luckily the team came through to help and we got all 3 ribbons in record time. The third one was something about blowing…. We each had to blow up a balloon and then using the air in the balloon, we had to knock 150 Styrofoam cups off the tables. Green Team holds the record! 150 cups in 16 seconds. We also got 3 ribbons on that one. The next one was something to do with a catapult and a broom. We had 3 paper plates hanging half way off the table holding a marshmallow. One person had to drop a broom handle just right to hit the plate to catapult the marshmallow and then the rest of the team was standing back with cups and had to catch 3 marshmallows before time ran out. We got 2 ribbons. The next one was Ping Tac Toe. It was probably the hardest one ever. We had to bounce ping pong balls into water filled cups alternating colors and try to make a tic tac toe. We didn’t get any ribbons, but I got really good at fielding ping pong balls! The next one had some catchy name that I can’t remember, but the main gist of it was we had to hold a spaghetti noodle in our mouth and without using our hands we had to pick up penne pasta on our spaghetti and hold it there. The 12 of us had to get 40 penne pastas to win. The catch… if your spaghetti noodle breaks, nothing counts and you start over. It was pretty intense, but we ended up getting all three of our ribbons. The next one was called Face the Cookie. You take an Oreo, place it on your forehead and move it down your face into your mouth with no hands. This one was very funny to watch and I got a couple of really great pictures. One of them is the second counselor in our bishopric and I just had to laugh. Such great facial expressions! Our team wasn’t really that great at it though and out of the 12 we needed each round, the highest we got was 6. No ribbons for Face the Cookie. Next we had to put together cereal boxes that had been cut into puzzle like pieces. Luckily it was square pieces, so not too hard, but there were 5 separate boxes we had to figure out and on the last round, we were working on the Cocoa Pebbles box and it was off center enough that it was seriously confusing people. One of the girls yelled something like, “Come on guys, it’s just Cocoa Pebbles!” That got us all laughing and we finally figured it out and got all three ribbons. We decided if they made us do cheers, that was going to be ours! Next one was called Suck It. We had to suck M&M’s up in a straw and transport them into a bottle across the stage without using hands. I tried and got about half way across before I could no longer breath, so I bowed out gracefully and then took pictures. We didn’t do so well on the first round, but rounds two and three we had it in the bag… or the bottle. Two ribbons for that one. Next we moved on to one where we had a tennis ball tied to a rope tied to our waists behind us and we had to spin to get the momentum on the rope to force the ball to swing and then knock 3 cups off the table. It was dizzying, but a lot of fun. We got all three ribbons and some awesome feelings of vertigo. The next one was called Shoe Fly. You can only imagine. You had to fling your shoe, using nothing but your foot and land it on a table about five feet away. I chose to be the shoe catcher and throw back the ones that didn’t make it. Did you know that most sneakers bounce?? We had some real shoe flinging effort but the most we ever got on the table was 10 and we needed 12. No ribbons. The last activity was called Movin’ Up. We had a stack of blue cups with one red cup at the bottom. We had to pass the cups around the circle with each person moving one cup at a time to the bottom of the stack until the red one made it back on bottom. We didn’t quite have the right rhythm on the first round, but the next two rounds we got it down and came out with two ribbons. After all the teams were done, the stake leaders counted up the ribbons. We came in second place, behind a tie for first place, but we only lost by one ribbon. The sad part was one of the teams that came in first contained the Aaronic Priesthood side of our ward and the Bishop took up bragging rights. It was a really fun activity to teach the youth the importance of team work and to let us enjoy a little healthy competition. We wrapped up with a lot of thanks to the Stake leaders for pulling it off, cleaned up the area, ate lunch, and came home. Being that it’s free fry day at Arctic Circle, that was our final stop where we gorged on ice cream cones and fries before bringing the girls home. It was a great weekend and I was very blessed to be able to go.

Righteous Living

Today I am struggling... I just read a quote by President Harold B. Lee that says, "The most important commandment is the one you are having the greatest difficulty living." I've been struggling lately with my entertainment choices, specifically movies and TV. Without trying to shove my opinions on others or sound completely self righteous, I feel like it's time to give up some of my favorite things and yet there is this part of me that isn't quite strong enough. I don't feel like the entertainment I choose is even "that bad" but the fact that I even have to write that should probably be the first clue that it's not "that good". I am working so hard on my personal spiritual life and this is like the last thing I just can't decide to let go of. I really like The Office. My struggle is in the fact that I know it's a giant waste of time, that doesn't really promote my getting closer to my Heavenly Father, but I can't seem to stop. Probably owning all the seasons isn't helping my conundrum, but like I said, I don't know if I'm strong enough to stop. One of my friends decided she wasn't going to watch PG13 movies anymore and I so admire her, but I don't know if I can give up some of my favorite movies. The logical me acknowledges that it's a colossal waste of time and I'd be a better person if I followed her in this pursuit, but I don't know if I can do it. In this respect, I'm really riding the fence. I want my Celestial mansion while keeping my Babylonian Summer Home and it doesn't work that way. God grant me strength to stop justifying and commit to choosing more righteous entertainment.

Confessions of an Addict

Hello, my name is Julianne and I am an addict. You can laugh if you choose, but I am addicted to Showtunes. Specifically Showtune Saturday Night. It's sad really. Each week for five hours I sit in my house listening to this radio program, and then when I hear music that I really love, I download it (legally of course) and then I listen to it all week. Of the 400 songs that fit on my MP3 player, about 350 are showtunes. The worst part probably is that I'm not even sorry. I'm not planning on giving up my addiction anytime soon and I'm strangely okay with this fact. Some of my friends have just accepted that if you ride in my car or come to my house on Saturday nights, it's inevitably on. So there you have it. I am a confirmed addict and intend to stay that way. Keep all your programs away from me... I won't go off willingly.

Interruption

Okay so I am interrupting my regularly scheduled scripture study time for this blog post, but I found something I needed to share. I'm actually working on Personal Progress. Probably the best part of my calling as the Laurel Advisor is that I get to work on Personal Progress with my girls and what an amazing blessing it is in my life! I've been working on Divine Nature experiences and one of them has you read 2 conference talks on womanhood. I found one by Sister Margaret D. Nadauld, a past General Young Women President. The talk was given in the October 2000 conference. She says, " Woman of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."
She then closes her message with this, "Sisters, regardless of your age, please understand all that you are and must be, all that you were prepared to be in royal courts on high by God Himself."
Doesn't it just make you so grateful to be a woman!! To all the women in my life who are tender, kind, refined, faithful, good, virtuous, and pure, thank you for being who you are and for recognizing the glory of God that is innate in you. For the rest of us... let's be grateful there is still hope in the Savior and try a little harder to be Women of God.

Camp Post 5: The Hike

Many of you remember my complaints last year about the hike. It was really hard and I was really slow and it nearly killed me. This year I was desperate to not let that happen again. One of the things I learned last year was that the back pack with a sweatshirt, lunch, extra water bottles, first aid kit and such was not needed and resulted in unnecessary weight which didn't help me move any faster or feel any better. Also last year, I learned that one extremely out of shape leader in bad shoes and a rocky mountain are not a good combination. This year I was determined to be in shape for the hike and thanks to the purchase of Wii Fit, I am in much better shape. I wore strong supportive tennis shoes and took a fanny pack (thanks to Holly) and only took my camera and a water bottle. I decided I'd eat lunch when I was done so I didn't have to pack it. This year we did the same hike as last year with an extra leg added on to the beginning. Last year we parked in the parking lot at the top of Big Mountain and hiked down. This year we parked a few miles past the parking lot at the top of Big Mountain and hiked to it then down. The first part was up hill at first and then lots of long switch backs led us higher and higher. Holly asked me at the parking lot if I wanted to blaze or bring up the rear. Remembering last year and how slow I was I chose blaze, with the idea that if the rule was no one could go in front of me, they'd all have to hike slowly for my benefit. Abby and I took the front, with Holly and Roseann and our Priesthood leader, Brother Armatage, taking the rear. Each of us had a two way radio that we could communicate with and we set off. About 100 yards into the first hill, I was breathing hard and was sure I had made a mistake even attempting to come on this hike. At the top of the first hill, I demanded a break and I'm sure the girls thought I was crazy to stop so soon into it. As soon as I caught my breath, we continued on and the trail, although it went high quickly, became easier as the switchbacks made it easy for us to climb. Soon we were in two definite groups. Abby and I had five girls up front with us and Holly and Roseann had five back with them. As we climbed we sang Star Wars songs (of course) and later Holly said it was so awesome to hear us singing ahead. It gave them strength to keep going. A few minutes into the hike, I found this... It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but it's bushes covered in snow. It was pretty shady, and you could tell the higher elevations hadn't figured out yet, that it was summer. As we got closer to the top, and got above the tree line, you can see a bit of what the pioneers saw as they conquered this last leg of their journey. If you look way out on that far mountain, you can see Kennecott Copper Mine. As we neared the top, we could see people in the big parking lot and knew the first part was over. We waited in the cold and wind at the top for the rest of our group, and when they finally came around the last bend, we greeted them with the victorious humming of Raiders March. After a potty stop for a few of the girls and a picture, we headed down the trail leading to the end of our hike.
The group of us blazing went at a steady pace, reminding the girls to stay hydrated and let us know if they needed to stop. They didn't so we just continued on enjoying the beauty around us. It was awesome! I didn't feel tired until well into the fourth mile, and aside from the trail being much wetter than last year, and having to find the trail under the stream at times, we made it to the bottom! At the bottom you are supposed come out of the brush and find a bridge leading across a very full river. This time we found a swamp blocking the trail completely so a group of brethren were showing us the other way out. It involved climbing up the mountain a bit, to a place where there was a rock you could step on to get across. One of the men was standing on the edge holding a large walking stick in the water to anchor himself as he helped us across the rock (that was buried under 3 inches of water) and safely to the muddy other side. We got out mostly unscathed... a few muddy footprints and made our way to the bridge where the stake Young Women's Presidency was giving high fives. My calves were sore for a few days after but nothing like the torture I experienced last year!! Yay for being in shape and finding a smarter way to hike!

Camp Post 4: The Skit

As you can imagine with a theme like STAR WARS the skit possibilities are endless. Holly wrote an awesome beginning that we put on a scroll like at the beginning of Star Wars movies. It started with the Star Wars logo then below that it says Episode 2010 THE LAST DAYS:

As the battle continues between good and evil, the enemy has improved his strategy to lure warriors to the dark side in a final attempt to weaken the forces of good and destroy the light forever. But the knights of Truth and Righteousness have reserved some of their most valiant warriors for these last days and now send them forth with their swords of the Spirit to uncover the evil plot and overcome the darkness.

We had Lucy Starwarrior, Obewise Canibe, Master No Duh, Princess Hope, a few wookies and a storm trooper! The girls wanted to do some puns using Star Wars characters, so Lucy found herself at the "Darth mall" fighting against evil. There were some seriously funny moments, like when someone was trying to get Lucy go with them to "Pizza the Hut" and Lucy responds with "No, I brought a ham sandwich and I'm going to eat my Ham Solo..." It was fun for the girls to write and fun for the stake to watch and at the end of the week, we got the award for the skit! It was a lot of fun.

While I'm on the subject, let me just tell you about our ward cheers. Most mornings and evenings at devotionals each ward had to do a cheer. We started most cheers with the girls doing a wookie call as we ran to the front. The first day the cheer was "May the Spirit be with you" with the girls flashing their light sabers as they said it. The next day we did "Stand for Truth and Righteousness, DO or DO NOT there is no try." The third day we went silently and straight faced to the front of the room and then just made random droid sounds. That one was funny! The people that were sitting in the back are probably still trying to figure out why we didn't have a cheer! The last day we walked down singing the Darth Vader theme, then Holly interrupted us with "NO not Darth Vader"... then we all shouted "We are Dark Evaders!!" I thought the girls were quite imaginative coming up with cheers! It was a lot of fun to represent Star Wars!

Camp Post 3: The Sword of the Spirit

As I mentioned before, when the girls picked the Star Wars theme I immediately went looking for light sabers. Holly (the Young Women's President ) and I decided we needed to make them have some meaning besides just being weapons. Holly had the idea of comparing it to the sword of the spirit talked about with the Armor of God in Ephesians 6. We talked about ways that we could relate the camp theme to fighting the war against Satan, and how we could help the girls realize that these light sabers were special. We discussed comparing each of the pieces of the armor to the Young Women Values. We started linking values and then Holly made this little scavenger hunt, where they had to find different clues that would lead them to the next part of the armor. We started at our camp and the clues led them to the lodge, the flag pole, the bathroom, the amphitheatre, the Bowery, and finally to a bridge above camp. At each stop Holly talked about the different pieces of armor, why they are vital to the safety of the soldier, and then compared it to the values we had linked them with. It was by far my favorite part of camp. Here are the links:
Loins girt with truth = Knowledge and Virtue.
Breastplate of Righteousness= Integrity and Individual Worth
Feet shod with the Gospel of peace= Choice and Accountability and Good Works
Shield of Faith= Faith
Helmet of Salvation= Divine Nature
Sword of the Spirit= Personal Revelation
Holly talked about how each piece of the armor of God is for defense except the sword, and how important it is that we all have something offensive to fight the battle.

At each stop after talking about the different pieces and comparing them to the values, the girls received a value colored bead which we put on washer necklaces. At the end after they got their light sabers, we did steel stamping on the washer. This is my necklace: (the stamping says Star Wars)
I hope the girls felt the Spirit of this activity as much as I did. It's awesome to me how the values fit together in our fight against Satan and I hope they realize their amazing ability to fight back. I know they all had fun playing with their light sabers all week!

Camp Post 2: S.T.A.R. W.A.R.S.

I decided I'll never get enough time for one long blog post so I'll do it in spurts!! This is our camp flag. Our theme like I said before was Star Wars and we made it stand for Stand for Truth And Righteousness, We Are Righteous Sisters. The back of the flag is exactly like the front, only in galactic alphabet. I think it was the best one in the stake, but I may be a bit biased! We had a lot of fun with the theme! More later!

Camp Post 1

A lot has happened in the last few weeks that I could blog about, and possibly will... Grandma and Grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary party... but this week my whole focus has been on girls camp. Remember last year when I got this calling and freaked out a bit? Who'd have thought that that girl would volunteer to do another year? The closer we get to camp (2 days and counting) the more I question my sanity. The stake chose STARs as our theme. It stands for Stand for Truth And Righteousness. They asked each ward to come up with a star theme that their ward would be known by and our girls chose STAR WARS. The first thing I did was go online and look for light sabers. It will be an awesome week, and I'll try not to be too busy when I get back, so you can hear all about it. Now all you faithful blog readers... pray the rain away!!! I'd rather camp in the sun, so combine your faith and pray that this spring weather stops for 5 days! See ya when I get back!!

Get Over It

Today marks the end of a ridiculously emotional weekend, that I can blame no one but myself for. I hope it also marks the end of these awesome personal blogs so that you and I can get back to funny things that happen in my life!! Oh well, at least my life isn't boring (haha)! As many of my readers know, I have been struggling with God's sense of humor and trying to figure it all out. I decided last night with the help of some friends and family, that I just needed to finally find out if seeing Tom in the temple meant something or if it was just pure dumb luck. I went back to the Salt Lake Temple on Saturday night, knowing full well that Tom would be there, just to test the waters. I still hadn't gotten an answer from the original question, as I was fairly distracted by seeing him, so I went back to ask again, and see if there was something different now that I was expecting seeing him. I did see and talk to him and it was enormously less awkward, so I sat in the Celestial Room for an hour or so, trying to be inspired. I didn't feel much and I wondered if I was asking the right question. I told my sis in law last night, that I wasn't sure if the question was about marriage in general or about Tom. Don't get me wrong...I wasn't sure if I even wanted to open that door again, but I didn't want to ignore a possible answer. I learned some other important things in the temple, though and Sunday was a continuation of worrying about it. Since I was still confused, I decided the best course of action would be to ask Tom if it meant anything. If you know me, you know that things like this scare me to death. I can have the conversation in my head, but write it down and push send?? That is just asking too much. I read back through my journal about our relationship and then decided to just bite the bullet. I wrote Tom an email describing why I had been in the temple in the first place and just why seeing him there 2 weeks ago rattled me so much. I asked him if he thought that timing had anything to do with it and went out there heart and soul exposed and ready to be destroyed. I woke up this morning and checked my email and sure enough there was a reply that basically thanked me for being honest, but also telling me that he didn't feel like going back was a good idea. I felt disappointedly relieved. One part of me thinks that it would be easy to pick up where we left off, but the sane part of me realizes that there is no way to pick up 6 years ago, and dust it off and end up with a different result. Tom and I have both changed and I know I'm not the same person so I can't expect that he is either. At the same time, it was really awesome to get some real closure on a relationship that ended badly so long ago. Tonight when I got off work, I read again through the journal that I kept during the time before, during, and after Tom and then decided it was time to put the journal back on the shelf and just get over it. Today I am not sorry I saw Tom in the temple and I feel better about him than I have in years. There is a really good chance I'll go back to the Salt Lake Temple and appreciate knowing that I am still waiting for the answer to the original question. At the end of Tom's email he said he felt that Heavenly Father has something for both of us that is perfectly suited to what we need... and I believe him.

Where is my Camera??

Have you ever had one of those picture perfect moments and of course no camera? Today I was at work, preparing for my audit. The audit is where my boss comes in and checks cleanliness and service times and pretty much does a floor to ceiling check on operations and what is happening in the restaurant. It's like a four hour process that causes a lot of nail biting for me and a lot of nitpicking for him. In light of that, I was trying to get the floor in my walk-in refrigerator clean. The walk-in itself is about 12 feet long and around 8 feet across. It has a U shaped shelf covering three of the four walls with the door in the fourth one. The shelf can move slightly, (if your strong enough to move something covered in product) toward the door but that's about it. The shelf itself is 3-4 feet wide and is HEAVY!! I was trying to clean the part of the floor against the walls. The shelf is only about 6 inches off the ground so it's really hard to get a deck brush (a scrub brush on a handle) in there. I conceded that the only way I would be able to do it was to lie down on the floor, on my stomach, and stretch as far as my arms would go with a scrubby pad and some heavy duty degreaser. This is the part where the camera would have been fun. There I am sprawled on the floor, reaching my arms as far as they can go; trying with all my might to get the stupid cheese out of the corners of the walk-in!! Actually as I think about this, maybe I'm glad I didn't have the camera... I mean, do I really want a picture of me spread eagle on the floor going around the internet? I'm sure all of your imaginations are already picturing this ridiculous scene. Ah well, that floor looks mighty good if I do say so myself!

Ha Ha... Very Funny!

Every so often, I consider to myself that God has a pretty awesome sense of humor. I mean seriously... have you seen a duck billed platypus... a giraffe... a tapir?

Today I went to the temple. It has been entirely too long since my last visit and I have been meaning to go for weeks, it's just something always comes up on the one day I can actually go. I decided yesterday that I was going to go today no matter what got in the way. I got off work at 3 and had decided to go to the Salt Lake Temple so I could see the flowers on Temple Square and also see the Joseph Smith movie at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I decided to ride the Front Runner, so I didn't have to deal with traffic and things were working out wonderfully. I got to the JSMB just in time for the movie, then got into the temple in time to do initiatory and an endowment session.

I went to the temple with a question in my heart. At the risk of getting too personal, I have been wondering about the promises in my patriarchal blessing about marriage and I was seeking some inspiration in the marriage category. As I finished the session and walked into the Celestial Room, I saw a face that I haven't seen in almost 6 years... that of my ex fiance. I half hoped he didn't see me, or didn't recognize me, or that it wasn't really him. I half hoped that he did see me, did recognize me, and felt really bad that he gave me up all those years ago... a girl can dream. He did see me, did recognize me, and practically chased me down. Okay maybe not true, but he did come after me as I left the Celestial Room and we talked for a few minutes. What do you say to someone who broke your heart 6 years ago, that you still think about every now and then? What do you say to someone, who at the moment when you're trying to gain inspiration about whether marriage is in your cards, makes you wonder what life would have been like, if you'd just met him 6 years later? What do you say to someone you haven't talked to in forever, haven't talked about with your common friends, but know enough about to strive to avoid anywhere he might be? What do you say to that one guy who you loved more than some silly school girl crush, and who had the power to make you cry about it for months? The crazy part is when I was walking into the temple, I was thinking..."Tom lives in Salt Lake. What if he's here tonight?" Why can't I just forget?

Isn't God funny?? I'm sitting here, 3 hours later, still kind of freaked out. Is it simple coincidence? Is there something more? If there is, is it somewhere I want to go? Am I being ridiculous? Probably so, but in the meantime, I think I'll do my next few temple sessions at the Bountiful Temple. I don't think I've dated anyone who works there.

Moms

Forgive me a moment, as I have a feeling that this blog post will be somewhat long and personal. My grandpa told me today that I haven't blogged in more than a week and I told him I'd get something on here. Today my family met at my moms house for a Mother's Day party complete with a potluck "breakfast for dinner" menu. We had oven omelet, blueberry coffee cake, pink pancakes, fruit, bacon, sausage, and juice and ate it all at 5:00 pm! It was fantastic and we all wondered why we don't have breakfast for dinner more often. Sitting there surrounded by 3 generations of Moms, I was feeling very grateful. Today at church while I watched my favorite moms, I was feeling very grateful.
When I was a little girl, if someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up the answer was a lawyer. When I was sixteen, I wanted to be principal flutist in the Utah Symphony. By age eighteen, it occurred to me that there were a lot of flutists in the world better than me, so I went back to wanting to be a lawyer. When I came home from my mission, law school was something I thought about, but what I really wanted to be was a mom, and I didn't feel like I could be a successful lawyer and a successful mom. Perhaps if I had known I would be 31 without kids I might have done that lawyer thing. I have no real regrets. I have several friends that are lawyers and I don't envy them at all and in all reality I really do enjoy my job. I do however wonder sometimes if the mom thing will happen for me. One could argue, according to Sheri Dew (also not a mother) all women are mothers to someone. She wrote a talk entitled "Are we not all Mothers" and while I hesitate to argue with her, it's not the same thing. A few weeks ago we had a Young Men/Young Women activity set up like speed dating. We sat across the table from each other and asked questions to get to know each other better. One of the counselors in the bishopric asked me what I want to be when I grow up and I told him a mom. I said it with a catch in my throat and felt sad as I considered the possibility of yet another childhood dream not being realized.
At the same time, however, I watch all these great moms in my life, and have to take a second to thank them all for letting me have a piece of their children. There are so many fantastic mothers in my ward and I'd like to do a moment of shout out to them. My friend Abby has three kids. The youngest is almost seven months old and I call him my boyfriend. He's possibly the cutest boyfriend any girl could ask for, and I appreciate it when Abby tells Thomas things like, "look, there's your girlfriend." Today in church Abby shared Thomas with me and I held him for part of Sacrament Meeting and all of Young Women's. So thanks Abby... thanks for letting me be a mom for an hour today. Holly is another mother in my ward who not only shares her children, but really her whole family and a lot of family time. I've been invited to dinner, FHE, Conference breakfast, and family movie night with her family. It's really great to have a family that takes you in and makes you feel like a really cool aunt. My blogging bud, Nicole, is a great mom. I've never met her or her children, but I can tell by the nature of her blogs how fabulous she really is, and I am so grateful that I get to share in their lives through both of her blogs. My friend Hayley (I hope I spelled that right) is a new mom. She is 17 weeks pregnant and comes into my work every so often and shares moments with me. I keep telling her we need to get together outside of work, and then maybe I can be an honorary aunt to her baby as well. My sister in law Nicole, is another great mom. My brother just graduated from BYU and got a job in Arizona, so they'll be moving soon. I try to see them once or twice a month so I can get my fill of the cutest kids in America before they live so far away that my only hope to see them will be on web cam. I appreciate when Todd and Nicole let me read Andrew his bedtime story and have those moments of parenthood that I don't get everyday. Of course my sisters and my other sister in law are fantastic moms along with so many others I don't have time to mention. My own mother is amazing. I'm pretty sure we both will agree that I was a horrible child and to be honest we didn't really have a great relationship until I was grown up. Luckily we've had a lot of opportunity to catch up on lost time and I really look forward to our monthly pedicure dinner dates and all the other things we are able to do. We are both pretty busy at work but I really love the nights when I call and we just chat. I love my mom! When tomorrow comes my day of regret will be over, and I will be able to continue on sharing all of your children. So thanks for letting me be a "surrogate" for moments at a time and Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to share

I measured myself last Sunday and finally today got around to adding it up. I was scared to measure, because I haven't done that great a job with the whole eating plan lately. I need to recommit, but today when I added up the inches lost it equaled (insert drum roll here)
10.25 inches!!!
I'm kinda proud o' myself...
Just wanted to share!

Too Much Chocolate!

Okay so I realize that a lot of you may think that this title is impossible... there is no such thing as too much chocolate right? Tomorrow for Young Womens we are having a "P" party. It is a focus on Personal Progress and we were told to bring some food item that starts with P to share with everyone. I had a brick of almond bark in my cupboard so I decided I'd dye it pink and dip pretzels... pink pretzels! The problem is the first few aren't so bad, but I get really tired of dipping pretzels long before the chocolate is gone. This is the result of me getting tired of it:
These were the last six pretzels and the worst part is, I'm probably going to eat all of them. There goes today's fat grams! :) More about the "P" party tomorrow!

The Last Straw

Have you ever had one of "those" days? Today was one of those. We were kind of swamped at work, and I was trying so hard to keep my cool as car after car came through drive thru. People kept changing their orders at the window and I was getting increasingly frustrated while trying to get people what they really wanted. I scurried around trying to make shakes and bag food and re ring the order for the inevitable senior who is too senile to remember to tell me they get a senior discount at the menu board. I walked over to stock straws in the drive thru station, and as I reached for the open bag of straws I noticed the bag had one straw left in it. In utter frustration I turned to my coworkers and complained that whoever stocked straws last couldn't have possibly fit one more straw into the holder. Cody, one of my counter guys, with a completely straight face said to me, "Julianne, that is just the last straw!" All the frustration melted away in an instant and I burst out laughing. Thanks Cody for helping me remember how far a little laughter can go!

Spring???

Today I got home from work at 3:30. It was 55 degrees and I put on capri pants and flip flops. Is this for real? You know four days ago I woke up to 4 inches of snow on the ground and we had to shovel at work. It would be really nice if the 55 + weather was here to stay. If it's spring teasing me I'll be really sad. Here's to capri pants and flip flops!

Eating Right

Today I started my day with 2 packets of Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal and an orange. For lunch I had grilled chicken with lettuce and tomato on a whole wheat bagel and salad with tomatoes and cucumber and fat free dressing. My afternoon snack was carrot sticks, and strawberries and grapes with fat free fruit dip. For dinner I had Southwest chicken casserole, then wheat thins and caramel corn rice cakes. I've had almost 96 ounces of water. I must say I like the way I feel when I eat like this. I think I'll do it again tomorrow!

Random Musings

So this whole eating plan thing is hard! Do you know how hard it is to find fruit I like that is in season in April... not easy! Today I didn't eat french fries. I also decided that since I finished the 10 weeks, I didn't do very well so I'd start again and do the 10 weeks again concentrating on being 100%. This week is water... you all remember how well that went the last time. Oh well, at least I'm used to peeing 25 times a day :)

It's snowing outside. Not just flurries, like inches. Did I mention it's April 5th? Where is this coming from. We in Utah learn to appreciate any water we can get, but seriously... I've got serious spring fever... I want to see TULIPS!!

My cousin Lynae told me yesterday that I should rename my blog because she doesn't think that I live the boring life. I'm taking suggestions.

Easter and Conference were good. I missed a lot of conference because of work, but I'm hoping to catch up On Demand this week. I'm glad that conference is recorded. The Ensign is really a blessing and I'm grateful for the opportunity to read the words of the prophets over and over.

Well I think that's enough of my randomness for tonight, plus I have a new Aunt Dimity book waiting... Good Night!

Pictures?? What pictures?

Okay so apparently I am not so great at the whole camera thing. I even put the camera in the car so it would be handy so I could take pictures to post and there it sits. No pictures. Maybe I should make a different blogging goal... I'll work on that! Oh and bad news... we got new better fries at work today! I'm such a fat kid!

Random

I was just reading my friends blog and she mentioned how she had a goal to take a picture every day in March and just post it. Her camera battery died as did the charger, so no go, but I thought it was a fun idea. Also, my cousin did a blog post a day for 12 days that was random pictures every hour (like 8-9 a.m. the first day, 9-10 a.m. the second etc.) I also liked that idea and since I don't often have my camera out I thought I'd make a concerted effort. So to start with I'll post a picture from Sunday and then look tomorrow for the random picture from my day! Sunday my mom, sister, nieces and nephew came over to play Wii. This video is all of them doing the Rhythm Parade on Wii Fit Plus. Carolee is actually doing it while everyone else mimics.

How it's going

Last night was girls night out. In the course of the evening, Nicole (my sister in law) told me I should blog more about the eating plan I'm doing. Last week was horrid! I work at a fast food restaurant that has been getting busier day by day. Every day for hours on end I serve up deliciously golden hot fresh fries, and by the time it's lunch time for me, the last thing I want is another salad! So I go full on fatty! I justify myself by getting the double cheese burger without the white sauce (buttermilk mayonnaise). No white sauce makes it healthy right? No!!!

Today I recommitted! I feel awful! Today I ate a whole grain breakfast, a large salad with fat free dressing for lunch, and a grilled chicken breast with potatoes and peas and carrots for dinner. I'll follow it up with some whole grain cereal and toast for my midnight snack and call it good! It's amazing how great I feel when I eat right! You'd think that would convince me that I should just do it! Definitely the way to go!! Eating healthy (minus the white sauce) is much better than eating cheeseburgers and those deliciously golden hot fresh fries!

Never as bad as you think!

This weekend was lazy! I got my wisdom teeth and two broken molars removed on Thursday after a root canal on Wednesday. I was severely dreading both procedures, but neither one ended up as bad as I was imagining. When I told people about getting my wisdom teeth out a lot of people asked who was doing it. When I told them my dentist was doing it, they all thought I was crazy and said I should go to an oral surgeon. My dentist is cheaper... and he's never hurt me before, so we'll stick with that plan thanks. I went in and he gave me this release paper to sign. As I read through it I got really nervous and felt as if I was signing my life away. After I was in the chair, he took the release and went over each part in detail. He assured me that each one of the things on it were extremely low risk and I felt assured. One of the things he was worried about was the tooth that got the root canal was weak and right next to the wisdom tooth. He warned me about that and on we went. He also recommended nitrous oxide (laughing gas) in addition to the novacaine, to which I also agreed. I've never had laughing gas before, and I'm not sure I want it again. It made me feel very disconnected and slow. He started by numbing me really well. I couldn't even tell if my mouth was open for most of the procedure and it must not have been because at one point he stuck in that thing that forces your mouth open. He started on the top molars. They broke several months ago and I've been getting food stuck in the hole for a long time. It was time to let them go. The teeth had a hard time agreeing with me about that and it took some effort to get them to let go. He had to break them in three pieces and then work them out... good thing all I could feel was pressure! When he finally got those out (it took about 45 minutes), he moved on to the wisdom teeth. My top wisdom teeth are nonexistent so I just had to worry about the bottom ones. The x-ray showed text book teeth. No crazy roots, no weird bends. They're called conical because they have a root that looks like a cone and usually come out nicely. Luckily for me that was the case, and had I not spent 45 minutes in the chair for that molar the whole procedure would have taken about 5. They slid right out, in one piece, and by that time I was sniffing oxygen trying to return to normal. He stuck gauze in the holes and gave me some last minute instructions as I proceeded to come down from the laughing gas. He told me to get ibuprofen for the pain and prescribed amoxicillan for the possible infection from the molars and sent me on my way with a handful of gauze and his cell phone number in case there were problems. Thursday night I was feeling pretty good once the numb wore off, and thought huh... piece of cake! At two in the morning, I woke up thinking I was going to die. It hurt so badly so I took some more meds and willed myself back to sleep. Friday and Saturday I spent lying around DVD's. Saturday I was feeling a bit better, so I made myself fried eggs for breakfast. The stupid root canal tooth broke eating an egg! Really! I guess it's true that it was a weak tooth. I'll go in Monday and see if it's bad or just something the crown will cover once I get it. I was afraid to eat anything after that so I just had some rainbow sherbet and lots of water. By dinner time I was starving, so I ran to Subway and got a meatball sub with just cheese, not toasted and ate it with a fork and knife and very carefully! It worked out pretty well and I felt full for the first time in 3 days. Today is my dad's unbirthday (leap year baby) and hopefully I can chew dinner, because missing out on my mom's cooking is a tragedy! Anyway, back to work tomorrow and I think I might be okay. It's nice when what you imagine is worse than the reality! At least I don't have to worry about wisdom teeth ever again!

Fat is yucky!!

At the beginning of this year, I decided to get healthier. A few years ago, my mom came home from the library with a book called, "And the Fat Came Back." It's written by a woman who had tried so many diets and was frustrated because she'd lose weight using most of them, but the fat always came back. Shortly after reading it the first time, I went on Amazon.com and bought it. Then it sat on my bookshelf collecting dust for several years. Her book is a ten week plan, that she is adamant is not a diet, because we all know that the root word for the word diet is die... you all see where this is going. Anyway, for the first few weeks, you give something up for one week and then add something else in. By the end of 5 weeks, you are drinking 72 to 96 oz of water daily, and eating 3 fruits, 4 cups of vegetables, and 6 whole grains daily. Then you work on exercising, strength training, and counting fat grams and controlling how many you allow. I've been doing pretty well. Most days I acheive my goal of 3, 4, 6 and drink my water and on the days I miss, I reevaluate and recommit the next day. One of my favorite things about this plan is that it's a life style change, so it works and it's pretty fun! Also, one of the things she talks about, is not beating yourself up for messing up. So you ate a pint of Ben and Jerry's with a package of oreos. Tomorrow go back to peas and grapefruit, and you'll be fine! This is the week I'm supposed to count my fat grams and keep them between 22 and 45. It has been kind of rough, between my work schedule and planned activities that did not very well coincide with my eating plan. Not that I'm complaining, because let's be honest... that fondue was so worth it!! (Girls night!!) I decided this week would be like a holiday week and I'd start counting fat grams next week, because I've been at work a lot more this week too, and let's face it, it's expensive for me to take food to work, where I eat fat for free. Today I had a short day at work because I had an appointment with an endodontist (yes I need a root canal!). I ate Subway for lunch, which isn't all bad, but mixed with the fact that I haven't been very good about my 3, 4, 6 this week, or drinking enough water, I felt really tired and cranky! I was trying to figure out the problem. I go to bed at the same time, get up at the same time, etc. But today at 4:30 I was asleep on my couch. After groggily waking, and getting ready to go to Young Women's it occurred to me that the reason I've been feeling so good is because I've been really diligent about taking care of myself (losing weight and inches) and my body is not used to this abuse! I used to be the fat queen of America. I work and eat fast food daily for goodness sake! I used to eat chocolate cake for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and now I go 2 days without my fruits, veggies, and whole grains and I am the poster child for this book!! IT WORKS!! Tomorrow, I'm back on it. I'm going to make sure I eat healthy and get enough water, because I do not want to feel like I do today. Fat is yucky!! I need some veggies!

Rory Elizabeth's 1st Birthday

Today was my niece Rory's first birthday party! She is such an adorable kid!! I forgot my camera so you'll have to check out my family blogs for pictures, but my favorite part was when they stuck the cake in front of her and she freaked out when a little bit of frosting got on her hand. We finally just had to take it away because she wasn't enjoying it even a little bit. Maybe next year! She made a haul on presents. Her daddy even said they needed a bigger house to get it all in! She got lots of new clothes (stylish summer for her) and lots of fun toys... mostly horses! Anyway, Happy Birthday Rory... hope it was as good for you as it was for those of us observing! And a big thanks to your mommy and daddy for making it happen! Todd and Nicole never do birthdays small and it's super fun to celebrate with them!

Michele's Wedding!!!

About 7 years ago I lived in the most amazing singles ward ever known to man! I met so many fabulously amazing people and made some everlasting friends. Today one of the greatest in the group was married, and I was blessed to be able to make the reception. I forgot my camera, but had such a great time catching up with the other fabulously amazing people that made time to make it, I am just giddy! It was so fun to see people from so long ago who still know my name and care about who I am and what's going on now. I just want to express gratitude for the opportunity to hang out for a couple of hours with people who I hope will be my neighbors in the Celestial Kingdom... it's definitely worth working toward!