We're packing currently. Leaving tomorrow at 3am :) it should be great! Way excited for everything- even though I will miss Utah and the people in it (mostly the people, but it'll be weird without the mountains too.)
There are just so many new experiences we'll get to have. And I'm looking forward to it :)

Feeling Accomplished

Today I was able to complete a prophy cleaning, flossing & fluoride on a patient who has a HUGE gag reflex- anything even touches his tongue & he gags. Add that he is slightly autistic & I'm seriously happy we were able to do so much :) Now I know that doesn't seem like much to anyone who isn't in the dental field, but seriously, the kid did great :) and next time he comes in he'll do even better, I just know it :) Love little miracles and progress like that.

My Latest Acquistion:

Isn't it lovely?
This is the Omega 8005 juicer. Great for all sorts of things from juicing fruits & veggies, spinach & wheatgrass, to making pasta & nut butters.
I'm STOKED about it :D
I originally looked into juicers because someone's newest recommendation is wheatgrass. That is to say wheatgrass would/should/ can help me get better. That's the theory anyway. And of all the ones I've heard thus far, it's the one that makes the most logical sense? Everything else is there 'to balance your hormones' which, is great, except that I'm not even sure which direction they need to be more 'balanced' towards or which hormones are even out of whack. The wheatgrass theory is supposed to address a hereditary issue that I might (or might not) have. We won't know for sure unless we do something along the lines of exploritory surgery. Haha. Yuck.
Either way I'm really looking forward to the health benefits of having this lovely new addition to my kitchen.

They're finally getting married!

Yep. My most amazingly wonderful best friend has finally got a ring on her left hand finger that isn't a CTR ring. And people can stop doing secondlooks to make sure.
I'm SUPERBLY happy for her :D and for me. Because instead of being 9+ hours away, she'll be only a few minutes. And that means the world to me. I've missed her so horribly much. Now if I can just be patient enough to wait through the time where they disappear off the face of the earth like every good young married couple do..... haha :)
She's marrying an awesome guy. Super friendly- outgoing, talkative, not shy. Everything she isn't. Well, I should just say, everything she isn't around strangers. He'll be so good for her. And he's totally head-over-heels for her.
Don't you just love Love? :D

Family Photo Shoot

Happened yesterday. Something LONG overdue. The last family photo we had taken without someone in a wedding dress was two (technically four though) children ago. My little brother who is now 4 was the baby at 6 months old. We've added two girls, and two boys (through marriage) to the family and in those past four years, we've all done a lot of growing up.
My 'little' brothers aren't so little anymore... pretty sure they might pass me up in height before they finish growing, and they definitely have more manly looks to them.
My middle sister- is coming to her own womanhood & will be dropdead GORGEOUS when she gets there. Not that she isn't already.
And the little boys are so adorable. They didn't have the opportunity of a million shots of them all growing up, like us older kids did. And I think that's one of the reasons I really came to want this photo shoot to come off well.
Because each of these wonderful siblings of mine, have an amazing personality, a kind of beauty that comes only from the sweetness & love they live with every day. And I want them to SEE that when they grow older.
It makes me tear up, because this, my Family, are what makes my life worth living. The love and meaning they have distilled upon me, implanted in me, is so incredible.
Sam was AMAZING about it all. He got to watch me stress about planning it all & came along for the ride & to give support. Which he did, wonderfully. He did great at keeping the kids all together & helping out.
I'll let you in on a secret. He really doesn't like photo shoots. Never really has. His family takes a lot of formal family pictures, and from what he's said, they result in a lot of headache and crying of children. Which is totally understandable for as large a family as he has.
But still leaves him not exactly jumping for joy about the prospect of another photo shoot. He always says he doesn't understand why pictures are such a big thing, that if we're always behind the lense watching, we're not living. I can see his point, but I think he doesn't quite get the amazing clarity you can find behind the lense of a camera. The way LIFE falls into place, something you couldn't have done alone, needed help changing perspectives.
That, is why I love photography.

Got to love Love

Every road that I've been down
The only truth that I have found
There's only one thing I can't live without
You.

-It's a song by Rascal Flatts, and even though Sam really doesn't like their sound (he says it's too whiney) it made me think of him :)
He's out of town this week and our wedding anniversary is this Saturday.
I can't believe I have the wonderful chance at forever with my best friend. It still makes me so happy to think about.
I really can't live without him, he is so much a part of who I am.
I think about that sometimes, when I'm missing him while he's away. That if I didn't know he would be coming home soon, I might not know how to keep living. Life just wouldn't quite make sense.
Haha, I hope no one thinks I'd go suicidal if somehow he died soon, because I'm totally not that kind of person. I'd keep living, but a very large part of me would be gone, and I'd miss him terribly.
He is the sanity in my life, the laughter, the meaning behind the 'why', the person who completes me.
I love you Sammy :)
So much.

We've moved!

Yep, it's true! To my grandma's home in West Jordan. We're almost all the way through everything... our room is still a slight disaster. It'll get there though.
I want to just take this opportunity to say how grateful I am that we had the experience of living with Sam's parents for the past six/seven months :) I honestly think it was the best thing for us. You see before Sam & I got married we didn't spend a lot of time around his family... I didn't necessarily feel like I had a place in their family, it's well established & there are older siblings already married & so I all the sudden went from a well-known place of Oldest Daughter & Child, to somewhere in the middle of somewhere. It was rather... different. But now I have relationships with his family, and I don't feel such a stranger.
Oh it hasn't necessarily been all peachy keen all the time, there were plenty of frustrations & hurt feelings, stepped on toes & unsaid/unmet expectations. And washing dishes for 14+ people did get overwhelming more often than not. I'm as guilty as the next person of not pulling my 'full weight' sometimes.
Through it all I've learned firsthand a lot about the family I married into, about my husband, and about myself. And I love them :)
I am grateful for this chance to have more space though. And to actually cook our own food *gasp!* haha

It's Hot!!

Really truly. I don't know if it's just that I've had to do a lot of driving today (no A/C makes a vehicle VERY warm) or just what all, but I feel like I'm melting into a puddle.
Well, it again has been way long since I've even been able to look at a computer with internet, let alone take some time to jot down my thoughts, so here are a few things that have happened, & will be happening, in the next little while:

- I'm currently babysitting my five siblings while my dad is at scout camp with the three oldest boys, and my mom is heading up to Montana with her baby, mother and sister.

- I got to attend the homecoming of one missionary friend & missed another's because we were camping. :/ oh well.

- We went camping with the Reynoso Family :D Love those people!!!

- We will be moving from the in-laws to my grandma's at the end of August/beginning of September, that will be good.

- Leon & Taylor will be coming home in September. Totally been missing those guys.

- Sam is working up in Taylorsville on a three-story senior living apartment complex.

- I'm still working Monday's and Friday's at the dental office but they are getting busier!! :)

- We just found out my cousin & his wife are expecting a baby :D

- I got to go to the geneology library for the first time ever & had a VERY enjoyable time there with my aunt :)

- Another cousin will be leaving for Mexico in a week, for a long time. It should be great & I'm rather envious honestly. Haha

- My brother-in-law's girlfriend got into an accident and should be dead. But she's not :) Thankfully.

- I turned twenty *gasp!!*

- We are going as chaperone's to the youth camp, way excited for that :)

.... And I think that pretty much covers it :) Oh, and I'm really in love with life, it's pretty amazing.

Best of luck to all of you & God bless!

I am accomplished!

Yesterday was a spectacular day as far as getting things done.
I headed down to Mount Pleasant at eight in the morning, to make my 9 am appointment with the physical therapist. A great guy by the name of Ben... I want to say Robinson. He works for Therapy West and when I started seeing him back in October I was in A LOT of pain. A car accident back in August only set on edge what had been becoming a problem for a few months before the incident. Therapy West has a few offices and while I have not been to any but the Mt Pleasant one, I have to say the people there really know how to take care, and care about, the people they work with. Anyway, got there, and since everything looked hunky-dory with a month (give or take a few days) between my last visit and now, I was able to be released with a clean bill of health. YAY!!!! And I even got a free t-shirt to prove it!
Then ran home, grabbed a few things Sam had forgotten and wanted me to send to him (camera, wet suit etc,) our 'love plant' my aunt gave to us (with the strong admonition to never let it die) that was rather rapidly deteriorating due to the lack of attention it was recieving with us always being gone, mail and food.
Headed over to fax one of Sam's bosses info that she needed, ran down to Ephriam to visit a good girl friend and picked up a turkey in Moroni on my way to Nephi to pick up my sister from school at 2:50.
Then came home and worked out on the Wii for about 45 minutes. Go me!
Today has been significantly less note-worthy, just mostly lazed around, took a nap, worked out in the Wii again, mailed away a package someone had bought from us on Ebay, and made Stir-fry. Which, if it had been from a package I wouldn't feel even half so proud of the adventure. But it was honest-to-goodnessly (I don't know that that's a word, but if it's not, now it is :D) HOMEMADE. From scratch. And tomorrow I get to cook my first turkey.
Yay for learning!
I know it might appear like I'm braggin myself up, but honestly, what's wrong with being happy about accomplishing lots?

It's January

Nothing quite reminds you of that more than the smog currently inhabiting the valley floor right? I was driving to my sister-in-law's baby shower last night and it was amazing the difference between Salt Lake and Utah counties. This morning there wasn't much of one, but still, I know what I saw, and it WAS clear in Utah county last night. Makes me grateful I don't live in this yucky air all the time. My grandma's house (where we are staying currently while Sam has work up here) is smack dab in the middle of the city, but excepting the fog you couldn't really tell, here on this sleepy dead end road of a street. I've always loved her house. Just pick it up and move it into the country where it truly belongs (and where it was, a mere 40 years ago) and I would be content to spend the rest of my life is such a house as this.
The wisdom and love from the amazing people who have made this house a home has crept into every nook and cranny of this lovely rambler and it's home to many a pleasant memory for me. It's where I learned the art of cookie making, the joy of the sound of a piano, where I got my first ballet lessons, cake decorating lessons, and so many more lessons on the nuances of life, both adolescent and adult. This is the home that has hosted so many Easter egg hunts, 4th of July celebrations, Christmases and Thanksgivings, and so many more gatherings, even once holding our family as we grieved the passing of a beloved uncle, son, brother, and friend. Yet there was laughter there too, as we recalled so many memories now engraved in our hearts.
This is a place I run for solace, when the world has gone crazy and I'm unsure of myself and the path I should take. For here I regain my bearings and recommit to myself and who I am becoming.
Isn't that what January is all about? Recommiting, rededicating, and recentering.

I'm back!

Wow. Talk about a LOOONNNNGGG time since I've updated this part of my life. Anyway, I'm LOVING being married. It's definitely different, but super good. My husband is super amazing & I'm just grateful he can put up with me while I learn more about myself and living with others. We moved down to Mount Pleasant and are living in a 100+ year old house (believe me, the heating bill is definitely showing it) that is quite quaint. It actually used to be a dress shop that the older woman who lived here before the current owners, ran in the front of the house while living in the back portion. Got to love the history you can find everywhere here.
I just found out that one of the Presidents of the Church's grandparents were born and lived in Mount Pleasant... can't remember which one currently, but I knew once lol. I've been on this reading spree. Can't even tell you how much I LOVE the library here. Sam does too, just for different reasons than I ;) haha. I've made a decision that for every novel I pick up I have to read some book that isn't fiction. It's been interesting, I'm currently finishing up a book on the similarities between Thomas Jefferson & Joseph Smith- I love the Founding Fathers.
Haven't found a job yet but I'm hoping to make this venture with a work-at-home company go through. We'll just have to see, keep your fingers crossed.
I've been seeing a chiropractor and physical therapist for my car accident injuries-- I hope to be soon finished with that chapter of my life and onto better health. I've learned a lot from my physical therapist though, a nice guy by the name of Ben. Just different exercises to strengthen core muscles and the best part is that they aren't strenuous at all :D gotta love that!
My mom just had her 11th child, a beautiful baby girl they've named Sienna Rose. She's got more hair than all of my mom's kids combined, with the exception of myself perhaps :) I actually DID have hair when I was born.
It's been different, being away from home... when Home isn't really my home anymore. I miss them TONS. It makes coming Home fun though, every time I walk through the door my 3 year old brother greets me with a huge hug and a "You're HOME!!!" haha. Oh how I love that boy.
Anyway, it's getting late and I'm tired so I'll wrap this up for now. Much love and happiness heading your way!

Ten days and counting!

Well. It's been a while hasn't it?
And we are now down to the last ten days of my single life. Oh goodness! I can't even tell you how wonderful everything is and has been this past month.
Everytime I look at Sam I thrill inside to know that soon I'll be marrying my best friend and most wonderful sweetheart. The man I can support and love for eternity. He is such a constant strength and has been the whole time I've known him. I can only pray I'll be as good for him as he has been for me.
We'll be moving down to Mount Pleasant, into a house with his brother Taylor and his wife LaRee, they are such wonderful people and I am so grateful that we'll have the chance to learn from their examples in such close contact. God has been so gracious and continues to guide our lives, I cannot praise His name enough.
Our family and friends have all been so supportive and helpful with everything in preparation and I continually marvel at the wonderful people God has placed in my life.
Thank you everyone :)

Hi and bye again

Wow, long time no news. Sorry about that. Well, I'm engaged. Officially now :D
He did a great job with it too. We went back to the first place we kissed, where he pulled out the ring and proposed. Pretty much I was totally NOT expecting it, I was completely shocked and extremely pleasantly surprised. Haha :)
My birthday went well, it was a good day. Went to the park and had cake and ice cream with the fam.
The date for our wedding is set for September 25th. A little less than seven weeks away. Yay!
And crazy.
Well the dress I ordered... wasn't what I wanted. So instead his mom is making my wedding dress. I'm grateful she's such a great seamstress.
My family is leaving on the trek this week, I get to stay home and babysit :) It shouldn't be a real challenge since I'll only have the little ones. We'll have fun.
So pretty much, I'm marrying the most wonderful guy ever. He's so sweet to me. I love how we can communicate, and things always get worked out in the end. I only hope I can be as good for him, as he has been for me.

Weddings Weddings Weddings

Yes. The very reason I'm down here in Utah actually haha. Not that I wouldn't want to come see my family, but the three weddings spred across two weekends is why I have a week and a half long vacation.
Sam's brother Brigham and his girl Mandy got married this past weekend. Super happy for them, they are two very wonderful people :) The reception happened to fall on a rather cloudy, windy day, but it turned out well, after the vases of flowers had to be turned on their sides, the tent where refreshments were being served kept hitting into the server girls and the little decorations in the trees got blown into the branches.
My friends Ryan and Tabetha got married two days ago as well. Their story is a little more fraught with difficulties than perhaps would have been wanted, but they are happy together and know it's right, so what else matters? I got to meet the fiance of another one of my friends at their wedding, that was really nice, he's a great guy.
Then this coming weekend I get to wish two of my best friends congratulations for they are also getting married. This time I get to be a bridesmaid, we'll have fun with that :)
I think the appropriate quote at this time would go something like this one "Love is in the air"
For you see, my sister is now dating someone too :) He's a really great guy, and I'm so happy for them. Good luck sis!

Pulling Closer

It's a lovely day. And yet, inside my house, there is kind of displaced spirit. Not one that you'd want for a Sabbath day. So to combat it, I'm listening to hymns on the Ipod, and I think I'm going to go on a walk soon. I just want to hold onto this wonderful spirit I've had visiting me the past little while.
I've been reading this book Words and Wisdom of Women by Charlotte K. LeBaron, incidentally Martene's grandmother. A wonderful lady, I was able to meet her while down there for the wedding, and while looking over the library our house up here has, I discovered this book among the rest. A compliation of quotes from different sources, including the Bible, Founding Fathers and their wives, and many contemporary and classic authors and poets, it has been a very enjoyable read, I'd recommend it to anyone with a taste for quotes.
Some of my favorites include:

"Listening is a primitive act of love in which a person gives himself to another's word, making himself accessible and vulnerable to that word" ~William Stringfellow

"By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you will become very happy; if you get a bad one, you will become a philosopher- and that is good for every man" ~ Socrates

"Traveling in the company of those we love is home in motion" ~ Leigh Hunt

This, is one of my most favorites;
"The perfect marriage must be a perfect blend of the spiritual, the physical, the social, and the intellectual... We are souls living in bodies. Therefore, when we really fall in love, it isn't just a physical attraction. If it's just that, it won't last. Ideally, it's also a spiritual attraction. God has opened our eyes and let us see into someone's soul. We have fallen in love with the inner person, the person who's going to live forever. That is why God is the greatest asset to romance. He thought it up in the first place. Include Him in every part of your marriage, and he will lift it above the level of the mundane to something rare and beautiful and lasting" ~Peter Marshall

I completely agree. I just thought I'd share these, and the outside is calling to me too much. Time to go play in the sunshine!

The beginning of Summer Days

Ok, funny story. It's field day here in the lovely neighborhood of Pines Academy, and basically the entire town has come to the event. I got to be in charge of the girls of the 3rd grade. Let's see, 16 girls, or 10 boys. I'll take the girls. Any day.
Not that my boys are terrors or anything, in fact, it's not my students that prompted the choice of the girls. It's the other teacher's boys. I don't know that I could handle them. So instead, I get to spend extra time at each event, and in the end, though activities ceased at 1:30, I didn't head home til 3:15. Had to spend all that extra time filling out their participation certificates you know.
Instead of heading into work like I thought I was going to be able to do, I went home, ate lunch (at three, yes) addressed a letter, and took a walk that ended me up at a park, playing with Chelle and her nieces. I love summertime. It's perfectly wonderful!
I've been walking more and more lately, went on a 4 mile bike ride yesterday, and yes, I'm sore.
Got to love getting back into shape!
It's good though, I really love the feeling of health that comes from good physical activity. Can't wait to go hiking more!

Hahahaha

AHH! (the good, excited kind!)
Today is THE day! One of many, but mostly the Day Where I Take Off For A Week And A Half.
It's AMAZING how relief of stress makes you almost crazily happy. I need a string to tie me to the ground because I might just start floating up in the sky :D
God is so good, and He always arranges things just right, if you let him take you where it is he is leading you.

Say Hey, it's a Good Day

Haha, oh yes it is! Go look up the song. It fits my mood perfectly.
I'm incredibly happy.
Got a grand total of 50 cents in my savings account and had to borrow $5 just to make my car payment... but I'm rich in so many other ways and the monetary value can't be measured on those.
I have a few, wonderful, true friends, an incredible family, and amazing students. I know a God who blesses and loves his children, and me specifically. I'm not just a name to him. I'm not just a number. I'm me. All of me. And he loves me more than I can ever fully comprehend. He is my best friend and I hope to always keep that relationship flourishing.
I have clothes and food and a healthy body. I have been granted countless opportunities to become better and to just be able to LIVE.
I do not want for anything really.
School is coming along marvelously, today we have a field trip to a pond and a spelling bee. And bowling. FINALLY!!!!!! haha, it's about time.
I made a tree yesterday :) and the day before that a butterfly. Out of paper of course, but 3-D. As I was sitting there I thought to myself; Couldn't you just imagine the joy that the gods have in creating real worlds? It was easy to pretend and magnify the joy and sense of wonderfulness in the accomplishment by 1,000 and perhaps maybe, only begin to understand, the incredibleness that they feel.
Last night I was walking home from school and thought about waving to people. I'd walked that particular path to school a few weeks before with a friend and he commented about waving to people. Some people you did, and others you just didn't. It was funny because it didn't really have anything to do with whether you knew them or not. Anyway, the memory just made me smile and miss him.
A year ago today, the people up here woke to six inches of snow. Could you imagine? That wouldn't have been ideal weather for our field trip. It attempted to snow yesterday though, I laughed :) But it's sunshiny, if not a little bit chilly, but we'll just wrap up warmly before heading off.

Today in my life

Oh happiness! But first a confession. I'm pretty positive one of my students is going bald. Haha, now I know that sounds slightly odd, but his father is rather bald as well. I can't decide if it's just a bad hair cut or something but really, there is a suspicious thinning part of hair on the back of his head. Or maybe it's just the hair-do. Although it's been that way for about a week now, who knows. It just makes me laugh.
Of course, today, a lot of things are making me laugh and smile. It's a wonderful day. Yesterday was an odd one and the day before that even more so, but today for some reason I'm incredibly happy. Except I know that reason.
God is so good! It's amazing how close he wants to be and how reassuring he is if you give him your doubts and imperfections and really LISTEN to what he is saying. Without words.
We had a lesson in Girl's Class last night about the Holy Ghost and keeping it with you always, it's always funny to me how much God is sitting here, teaching me the things I need, right as I need them and sometimes even before. It just makes me laugh. At myself, and life.
Sure, things are no where near what some may call 'perfect' but I consider it to be, I'm incredibly blessed with more than I could possibly ever want, and I have an unfailing trust that God will always provide. It's amazing how he can work in your life, if you will allow him to.
So I guess that is what I'm going to ask each of you today. Let Him work miracles in your life. He will, I know he will.
All my love!

Best Friend

And this is why I love Chelle.
She just texted me and asked "Do you think frogs have boogers?"
I said, probably not, no.
Her reply: "What about deer?"
My answer, Yep.
Totally random, but wonderful too.
Just like the time she texts me at work and says something to the effect of "You know what sounds like so much fun and that we need to do sometime? Go through the drive through at Dairy Queen in reverse"
I laughed, and agreed.
What would I do without her? I have no idea, but I'm so glad I don't have to find out.