Blessings

This past weekend I was so blessed to be able to spend the weekend with my bestest friend Katie. She was at her parents house visiting and stayed over night. We hadn't been together for a while so it was very fun to see her and her wonderful kids again. Her Husband had stayed home so we had lots of time to catch up and tell funny stories. We even ended up having a "sleepover" although there wasn't alot of sleeping involved. With my girls in Arizona I was quite lonely and very thankful for the fabulous distraction the Manning home offered. I am so very blessed to have such a wonderful best friend.

Thanks for letting me be there Katie.. LUFF you TONS!!

Snowday

These Pictures are from quite a while ago but I just hadn't put them up yet. Both the girls were absolutely thrilled that it had snowed and couldn't wait to go play in it. I dug out the snow clothes and we had everything but boots so we made a trip to the store and got boots and a sled.
My Brother Matt helped us play, We made a small sledding run in the back yard. There wasn't alot of snow because of the trees but enough to make it work and fun for the girls

Making snow angels was one of their favorite parts

After making their snowman with Matt

Updates

I know it seems like ages since I have blogged anything, Mostly because it has been. Life has been busy but I also haven't felt like there is much to write. Anyways with Christmas' fast approach I decided that I better put something up.

I have a few funny stories from the girls.

I was out running errands and we didn't have that many so we weren't out for a very long time and both of the girls were whining in the back that they weren't ready to go home and they wanted to go somewhere else, Well we were almost home and Laira said "There is Subway eat fresh, that's another place can we go there" I was laughing so hard. Who knew that commercials were so influential (kidding)

We went to IKEA and Laira and Bailey decided they wanted to go to the play land while I did my shopping. Well when I saw the "you must be taller than" sign I knew we were going to have a problem. The hard thing for Bailey is that she is a very small 3 1/2 and sometimes that proves difficult to handle. Well she stood up and was about 3 inches short she looked the lady in the face and said "let me try again" she walked away took off her coat and went back. She stood on her tip toes and said, "See.. I AM big enough" and yes on her tip toes she was, but sadly I had to tell her she couldn't go in. So very sad and dejected after her valiant effort she slunked away to shop with Mom while Laira got to play.

Lastly, Laira is sick. she NEVER gets sick and on the other hand Bailey is ALWAYS sick and she isn't right now and I think that is hard for her. Laira has 3 medicines she is taking for strep and Bailey has nothing. She keeps telling me that she is sick and will have me look at the out side of her neck at her sore throat. She also thinks she has Pink Eye since my little cousin has it. So I now have a little Hypocondriact 3 year old. I think she is just jealous that Laira is getting all the extra loves and attention and not her.

Things with me are going well, We are trying some new things for my Endometriosis the side effects are not so much fun, I am sick alot of the time, Nauseated and sometimes the room spins but I am hoping that like the doctor said my body will adjust and it will hopefully lessen the effects of the Endometriosis. Otherwise we will have to do some other things like surgery and I am not excited for that. I am still working and I love my job more everyday. The people that I work with are amazing and wonderful teachers. Now I just need to figure out how to go to Nursing school and make it work.

Thank you so much for all of your wonderful love and support. It means a great deal to me to have so many wonderful friends.

ALL our love.

Life back to normal??

Well my sister is home now. With some very strict and ridgid rules. Do I think anything will change? I don't know. Only time will tell.

Question

What would make my life infinitely harder and make me stress more than I feel I am capable of handling?

If you answered.. my incredibly un-smart sister would get in a car accident get herself arrested and thrown in jail becuase she was DUI so that I now inherit another child you would be correct!

This is all I can say on the matter right now.. its as far as my brain will process right now.

Go Fish!

Thankyou Walmart for card games for $1.77! My girls have been obsessed with this game the last couple of days. They love to play it, and when everyone was too busy to play with them today they decided to play alone! It was so adorable! I have great girls!

Brain Dump!

I have so much going on right now that I decided I needed to do what my friend Erin calls a "Brain Dump" and just get it all out.

Work, What can I say about work. Well I LOVE it, Last night I did alot of work on my own and it was fabulous. I am so glad that I love my job so much. Things that I thought I would have a hard time with aren't giving me any troubles at all. The people that I work with are great and even the people who others seem to have a problem with don't seem to have a problem with me.. yet.

Laira, Where to start with her? She is still super smart and super cute but she is really struggling right now. She has started to lie... alot. Her lies are mostly outrageous and easy to spot. but it just bothers me that she feels like she needs to lie. Any suggestions on this?

Bailey, she is still super spacey and super silly. But lately she has been OOZING the Christmas spirit. It cracks me up. She is always picking out toys for everyone else and telling them "good Job" and "high fives" She is a super sweet heart. But she still throws fits and tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She is still the master debater when I ask her to do something and she has other plans.

Me, I am still super fat and super single. (things didn't work out but we are still friends) I went to the doctor yesterday and they think I might have Endometriosis. I am not excited about that at all. I am excited to get to start going to church again. I've been told that I've had a calling waiting for me for a couple months now. I am also glad that I don't have to work during church anymore.

One last thing that is bothering me.. the predicted disappearance of the ex husband in the girls lives again.. not surprised... not happy about picking up the pieces of 2 sad little girls again.. Wish there was something I could do about it.

Family Pictures

These are from a while ago and I never posted them. .... Enjoy!
My Adorable girlies

Bryce thought this pose was super stupid

The Whole Family...

Halloween Pictures

So it turns out that the Memory card reformatted and all the pictures are gone.. My cousin took some pictures so I will see if I can get a copy of them from her.. other wise.. no pics

Tag! I'm it!

Four Places I've Lived

• My parents house in Provo
• My own house in Provo
• Orem
• Mesa, Arizona

Four Jobs I've Had

• Kiddie Kandids Photographer
• Wedding Photographer
• Secretary
• CNA

Four Things I'd Like to do Before I die

• Get married again
• Get my RN
• Travel
• Go on a mission

Four Favorite Desserts

• Pumpkin any thing
• apple crisp
• Ice cream the good kinds
• This caramel and chocolate thing Loralee made for a bridal shower
  

Four Interesting Facts about Me:

• I can bend my fingers all the way back to touch the back of my hand
• I am addicted to reading
• I have broken my ankles at least 10 times
• nothing really beats Meg's Bells Palsy

Four Favorite TV Shows:

• Pushing Daisies
• Kid Nation
• Greys Anatomy
• Moonlight
  

Tag: Andrea, Erin, Adrienne and Amy

Halloween

Ok so I took pictures for Halloween but when I went to get them off of the Memory card there was nothing there. So I am going to have to do some detective work and hopefully get some pics up soon!

Primary Program

This morning Laira had her first Primary Program. She has been so excited for it. I asked her if she had to say anything and she told me she didn't and that she knew all the songs. So this morning she picked out a dress and we even curled all her hair. she looked adorable. She was dying all through the Sacrament. She wanted to go sit on the stand and do the program. She kept telling Bailey.. "It's my program not yours, you have to stay here with Mommy" Bailey was very sad.

Once the sacrament was over Laira and my Dad (he teaches a different class) went up on the stand and took their seats. Laira was beaming she was so excited to be there. She found us and waved enthusiastically. They sang a song and the Sunbeams went first and then her class came to the front. The first little boys said his part and then they put the microphone in front of Laira. This is when I got a little nervous. Because she told me she didn't say anything. Well she looked at the teacher and the teacher whispered her part in her ear and laira looked at all the people and then slowly sank behind the railing on the stand and disappeared. I was laughing so hard I was crying. Then once the music started for the next song she stood up and sang, and she sang the whole rest of the program and cuddled with the boy sitting next to her.. *sigh* What am I going to do with her.

I had alot of people tell me it was the best part of the whole program. Silly Laira.. I love her so much.

Newest Utah Valley Regional Medical Center Employee

I was called this morning and offered a position at the hospital. HOORAY!!!!!!!!! This is something that I have wanted to do for a very long time and finally the day has come and my goal has been reached. It almost doesn't feel real. I went in and did my drug test and had my blood drawn for an antibody titer, then I went to HR and filled out alot of paperwork. They gave me a parking permit and I was free to go. I went up to the 6th floor Med/Surg floor and walked around. Too scared to talk to anyone, but so excited.

I have Orientation all day on the 5th and then PCA training for 2 weeks. I will have my schedule figured out at Orientation when I have lunch with my boss. I know I will work 3 shifts a week, its have of the noc shift from 6 to midnight. Its not the shift I wanted but you have to start somewhere. I am sure if I can get in there and work hard I will be able to have the opportunity to move to a day shift and work full time hours. but for now I am more than content to just have my foot in the door.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful Support!!

The Interview ......................(for Stef)

The interview was interesting. I was surprised at the lack of effort some of the people put forth. I felt very over dressed, I was in a nice suit and looked nice. The men were in shirts and ties and all of the other women were from semi nice to very causal

The other presentations were interesting to say the least. I did my presentation on the importance of hand washing. the others were as follows:

• a lady talked about a recipe and brought cookies

• a lady brought a spinning wheel and wool.. didn't even talk about it.

• a girl talked about buffalo hunting using sentences like "we seen a buffalo"

• a girl talked about her mission

• a guy sang a song while playing his guitar

• a guy talked about himself

• a girl talked about her self

• a girl said I took her presentation, and talked about MRSA (a drug resistant staph infection)

I felt over dressed and over prepared.... I hope I did well. Everyone else had experience working in a care center other than one other girl. So we shall see what happens, I should hear from them by Monday. Keep praying and hopefully I will have a new wonderful job soon. ( and then I can transfer to St.George to go to school if I can get into Dixie) <---that was for you Stef!

Thanks for all the prayers and support. I told my ex about the Dixie plans and he wasn't too happy about it, but he said it was good to be in school. So it sounds like he is supportive so we will see.

Presentations and Interviews... what?

So last night I applied for 2 jobs at UVRMC. I was very surprised this morning to receive a phone call telling me that they wanted me to come in on Monday for a group interview and that I would need to come prepared with a 3 minute presentation on anything I choose. I have done a few group interviews, but never with a presentation. Talking with my Dad he said that they want to see how well I can express and communicate something. He also said that they want to see that I have passion for something. Both my parents suggested that I do my presentation on Photography. While I do have a Passion for it i don't know how to effectively communicate it in 3 minutes. So now I am going to be stressing the whole weekend trying to figure out what to do for my presentation.

any suggestions or helpful hints?

Working

I did my Hospital clinical today and I loved it.. and I found 2 openings and applied for them. so please pray for me.

School is ALMOST over. I am very excited to be close to being done. However my plan isn't working out how I planned. I planned to be able to finish my class and get a job at UVRMC and get ready for Nursing school while I worked there, which they would also help pay for. Well everything works except for UVRMC, they are always hiring .. right? Well apparently not for CNA's right now. I looked when I first started school and they had at least 7 openings. I have been looking for the last 3 weeks and they have 0 openings. I looked at the other openings throughout Utah and there are quite a few. So I have a couple of options and choices.

1- Suck it up and work in Utah county in a care center and Wait on the waiting list at UVSC for the Nursing program. Which I don't even know if I can get into.

2- Move to SLC and work for Primary Childrens or one of the other many hospitals in SL county and then to have to wait for the waiting list for Nursing School at every school in SL county which I don't even know I can get into.

3- Move to St George and work in one of the many CNA jobs available and get right in to the Nursing program at Dixie college which my instructor says is a good program. but be 4 hours away from my family and not know anyone down there.

see big choices and changes. Don't know what to do.

SHOES!

I have a weakness for shoes.. I love them! And it's even funner to buy cute new shoes for my girls. Today we went on a shoe hunt Bailey needed new warm shoes for winter. We started at Shopko and they only had like 3 things in her size.. none of them something I would buy. SO we went to my favorite big box store.. Target! They always have adorable shoes.

I was surprised that they didn't have very many athletic type shoes in Baileys size. I didn't know that 7's were such a hard size to find. We ended up with these. They are adorable and she loves them

They both could have used some shoes. Their feet grow so fast. I know I will be buying Sunday shoes for both of them ASAP! And Laira will need something other than her Crocs that she loves pretty soon. They had a lot of really cute things, but Finding Laira's size seemed to provide another challenge. Laira is a size 11 they had plenty of that size, but I want to buy her 12's so she can wear them longer. But low and behold I couldn't find a 12 in anything I liked. But I did find these and they are so adorable so I am hoping with my next pay check I can get Laira something. YAY for shoes!

Anticipation

This morning I was able to shoot a whirlwind Engagement session. It was mostly a whirlwind because it was starting to rain and the rain progressed as the session went on. We got maybe 15 shots but we were wet and cold and so we decided to give in to the rain. We decided to schedule another shoot if they didn't find one of the 15 that they liked. I was happy to take the pictures. Photography is one thing that I enjoy a lot. I use to hate shooting Engagements and Weddings. I was always jealous of the love shared between the couples and often resented them. "why can't I still have that" was something I asked my self often. I was stuck in a rut of self pity.
Today though I was able to let up and have fun. I was happy for my friend and so glad that she was happy. I looked at their interactions and told my self. "I can't wait to find that" so today I am filled with anticipation. Its been a long 4 years and although I am content with my life now there is still a big piece missing. I know life will be that much more enjoyable when that missing piece is found.

Now there is a new "prospect"! I have had a hand full of relationships in the last 4 years. Some were local some were long distance but they all were lacking. Things are very different now, this guy (we shall call him "prospect" for the time being) has been a friend for some time. Although I think he is painfully shy there is alot of potential for alot more. We spent some time the other night talking about watching baseball and that I don't like to do it. He spent alot of time telling me that there is alot more going on than I think. He said " Do you think if I taught you more about baseball you would like to watch it more?" I said sure and my first baseball lesson started. He went on to teach me a few of the intricate things that were happening, but not too much so he didn't overwhelm me. When I correctly identified a curve ball my heart leapt when he said "I am SO proud of you" I left that night with a standing invitation to come over anytime and the garage code (a coveted thing apparently) although there are some mysteries I need to crack such as the way he will invite me to come sit on the couch and I do and he will get up and sit on the floor leaving me on the couch alone. Or the way he can never sit still long, He is always getting up and walking around or leaving the room. those things perplex me, so I don't know if he is scared of me or just can't sit still.

I would just like to mention that I HATE dating. I hate always worrying about everything! This is kind of a random post of random thoughts!

Happy Un-Anniversary

6 years.

*sigh* thats all I have to say about that