A Long Time Coming

    Well its been a while since my last update, and well I am in Florida now. My internship at All Children's Hospital was finally approved and I have made the move to Tampa, Florida where I will be living for the next 6 months.

     There has been a lot of change in the past month or so. Its all been good and I am excited for this new year and to see what 2016 has to offer.
      Instead of a bunch of words I will just talk through pictures as to what Ive been up to the past little while.

Going to the Rexburg Temple with my Family 

Becoming a college graduate

Christmas 'Jammies

Celebrating 23 years

"And so the adventure begins"

The Waiting Game: A Story of Stress, Learning Patience, and a lot of Support from those I Love

    I have been meaning to write this post for a while now, but midterms are this week (side note: Im halfway done with my last semester!). I thought my last semester was going to breeze by, but oh how wrong was I. This by far has been the busiest and most stressful semester yet. Not only have classes been so busy, but working on top of it all is crazy as well, especially with my position right now. However the thing causing the most stress has been trying to find my dream internship.
    At the beginning of August I got all of my Child Life Practicum applications submitted. Then I waited. And waited. And waited! I knew from the start that it would be a while before I started hearing back, and I figured I would just kind of forget about it for a while. Well that definitely didn't happen, instead I obsessively checked my email every ten minutes hoping each time I opened it there would be a response from one of the hospitals. It wasn't until the middle of September that I started getting responses. I thought once I started hearing back from people it would relieve some stress, but no it just added on because I started setting up phone and skype interviews. It was all starting to become real.
    I got through all my interviews, I felt really good about some and not so good about others. Im just glad I have a little while until I have to do it all over again. Then it was just another waiting game to see if I was going to get an offer. This was the scariest part of it all. But I knew all the work and all the waiting would eventually pay off.
    I have learned a lot throughout this whole process. Patience truly is a virtue and one that I've learned I need to work on. I found myself getting angry that I hadn't heard anything yet and realized I can't get angry, it was all out of my control. I learned that yes I can do hard things, even when I think I can't anymore. This whole being an adult and doing scary things on my own is not something I am particularly fond of, but this whole process has really allowed me to grow and gain confidence in my own abilities.
     Now there is no way that I did all of this alone! So here comes a little shout out to my wonderful and amazing dad, who really supported me throughout this whole thing. Whether it was calling him telling me not to apply somewhere because it wasn't the classiest of places, reviewing my resume, offering to help me with interview questions, to me calling him on the phone and crying because I was stressed and feeling like there was no light at the end of this very long and dark tunnel that is finding an internship. I really have relied on his great knowledge and strength and could not have done it without him (you too mom!).
     The waiting game is pretty much over. I have received and accepted an offer, but am just waiting for a few more legal things to get settled and then I will be able to reveal where I will be headed come January.

Stay tuned!

"Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting."

-Joyce Meyer

My First Week of My Last Semester of College

     Well I survived my first week of my final semester here at BYU-Idaho. I have to say I survived because it was a rough one. I was hoping my last semester was going to be low key, but oh how I was wrong. I am already so overwhelmed and ready to be done.
     I have mixed emotions right now because as much as I say I wish I could just be done already I know when the time actually comes I won't want to, but right now I just wish I could fast forward time.
     Not only do I have school, work, and a social life to worry about, my internship deadlines were a few days ago, so now all I do is obsessively check my email to see if I have any responses. I just wish I could skip over the whole interviewing process and just get an acceptance...IF ONLY! Its a process and I am excited about it, but also extremely nervous. There is just a lot going on and a lot changing, I have to get used to it still. I know it is all going to work out, I just wish I could skip over all the hard parts, but thats life I guess.

"Keep Trying. Keep Believing. Be Happy. Don't Get Discouraged. Things Will Work Out."

-President Gordon B. Hinckley

A Visit From The Parents

     The seven week break in Rexburg can get pretty lonely, especially when you have only one roommate and you are both on opposite schedules and maybe see each other two or three times a week. I have spent a lot of time not really doing much. My days include going to work, catching up on my latest show, reading, going to the gym, and going to sleep. It's pretty mundane. Every once in a while something exciting will happen, but Rexburg is pretty much a ghost town this time of year.
     Lucky for me I have the best parents in the entire world who came all the way from Connecticut to spend a few days here in Rexburg. It was so fun having them here and showing them around my town, granted it took a total of 5 minutes but it was still fun.
     The fires in Soda Springs, Washington, and Boise kind of messed up our plans a bit because of the smoke but we were still able to see some of the great things in and surrounding Idaho. We took a day trip to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, walked around the shops, of course took a picture at the Antler Arch, and had a yummy dinner.

     We also took a trip up to Yellowstone National Park. It was a gorgeous day. Saw everything from buffalo to elk, Old Faithful and the hot pools. Then we pulled off and hiked to Ferry Falls. None of us were expecting to hike that day, especially me, and let me tell you white converse are NOT hiking shoes. All in all it was worth it.

     It is hard having my parents so far a way while I am at school and I rarely get to see them so it was fun to have them come out for a visit for a few days. The next time I will see them again they will be back in Rexburg, but this time in the dead of winter for my graduation. You know that your parents love you when they commit to coming to Rexburg in December.

"I love you to the moon and back."

-Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

My Best Friends Wedding

     It's been about a week since I was in Northern California for Anna's wedding. It was such a bitter sweet day trip for me. I am so excited for Anna and her new life that she is starting but I am also sad to be letting my best friend go. I am so absolutely happy for Anna and Quinton and am so glad that they found each other.
     For the past 4 years Anna and I have lived together. For those 4 years came nightly pillow talks. We would talk about everything, including our futures. Neither of us knew what our futures held but we had big dreams, including living in a flat together. Well obviously that isn't happening...haha but we also talked ALOT about boys! I am happy to say that when talking to Anna about what she wanted her future husband to be like, Quinton embodies it all. So I guess I can't be too mad.
     Im only kidding, how could I be mad that my best friend has found her eternal best friend. I can't! I know that no matter where life takes us Anna and I are always going to be best friends. I know that even when she is living in Delaware and I am who knows where, we will always be able to pick up the phone and pick up right where we left off.
     Anna and Quinton's wedding day was absolutely perfect! They were sealed for time and all eternity in the Oakland California Temple. The weather was perfect, Anna looked beautiful (of course), I loved being one of her bridesmaids, and family and friends gathered to celebrate the happy couple.
      Even though saying goodbye to my best friend was hard, I know that Quinton is her best friend and that he is going to take the best care of her, and that he'll let me visit and take her away as often as I want;). I love you both and am so happy for you guys.

CONGRATULATIONS!

            

                                        

   

         

"Even though we change and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not friends."

I Am Back

     It's been a while since my last post and that just goes to show that 1) I forgot and 2) my life has been a little chaotic these past few months. Excuses excuses I know, but now I am on break and things have slowed down in a big way! I have finished yet another semester of college and only have one more left until I graduate. Wait what I am graduating in December?!?! This cannot be real life.
     So here's what's been happening the past few months:

• I taught preschool for a semester and absolutely loved it!
• I am still working at the library as a supervisor.
• My best friend got engaged!!
• Started applications for my internship.
• I am going to be an aunt again!
• Finished another semester
• I am listenting to Harry Potter on audio.
• Now I am living in Rexburg for the 7 week break.

     When I said life has slowed down in a big way, I meant it. Living in Rexburg when school is not in session is really interesting. There is probably only like 100 students that actually stayed for the break, nice for the locals, not so nice on my social life. Rexburg is a small town so when the majority of its population leaves it is quiet! Its only been a week but I am realizing I am going to have to start getting creative here soon. Luckily I have some fun things to break up the weeks, I leave for California in a week for Anna's wedding, then my mom and dad are coming to visit which I am stoked about especially since my dad has never been up here. It will take all of 5 minutes to show them around town so the rest of the three days we will have to explore other states near by haha. Then  after they leave its back to work for a few weeks, then down to Utah to watch Benson for three days while Sarah and Matt take a little vacation. So thats all I have to look forward to for the next 7 weeks, but it will be good. With all my time I am hoping to stay more caught up on the blog, so look forward to that!

"All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given us"

-J.R.R Tolkien

          

Puppy Overload

    I have a great love, okay it's an obsession, with all things puppies. People always talk about the crazy cate lady, well I am pretty sure that I am going to become the crazy dog lady. Seriously all I want is a puppy. I have decided that I am going to buy myself a puppy for a graduation present. I mean I worked four hard years in order to graduate, the least I deserve is a puppy!
    My obsession has come to the point where I almost brought home two King Charles Spaniels this weekend. There was a couple giving them away for free and it took every fiber in my being to not walk away with them after playing with them. I'm pretty sure my roommates would have killed me, but it would have been so worth it!
    So I had to fulfill my puppy need somehow. There is a business here in Rexburg called Pups4Play, and they have a bunch of puppies that you can rent. The point is to get them adopted, and you can rent them to give them a little test run. But you can also just rent them to play with them. So this is exactly what we did. I was talking to the owner the other day and I was telling him my plans of renting soon and he asked if I had made a reservation yet, and I hadn't and then he told me to wait a day or two because they had just gotten four husky pups. I was out of my mind excited and reserved one as soon as I could.
    Today was the day! I was distracted all day at work because I just wanted to get home and play with the puppy. We reserved Royce because he had the bluest eyes, but when they dropped him off they had his sister too and asked if we would want her too because she didn't have a place to go and they said they play better together. Of course we said yes, because no sane person would say no to a second husky puppy!

Pure Happiness

    We had Royce and Mila for and hour and a half and just played with them. So much that we wore them out and they both slept for like the last twenty minutes that we had them. Which was totally okay because they were just so darn cute! It was so hard to give them back I just wanted to adopt them right there on the spot.

How could you resist those eyes?!

"I heard somebody define heaven once, as a place where, when you get there, all the dogs you ever loved run to greet you."

-Robert Parker