New Nephew, New Fireplace, New Job, New Boy :)

I know it has been forever since I last posted! What can I say? I am a really busy girl. Last Friday, March 20, 2009, my beautiful sister, Emily Ann, gave birth to a baby boy named James Matthew. He looks just like Sarah did as a baby to me. He is so calm and has the longest fingers! I am so grateful we have Matthew and Emily living so close and we can see James so often.


THE FIREPLACE IS DONE BEFORE CHRISTMAS 2009! Yes it is true we finally had the tile guy come and do the fireplace and it looks amazing! I got a text from mom yesterday and it said "The tile looks so cool!" It looks pretty amazing... now onto the next project.


I quit working at White Chocolate Grill as a server and am now a server at BJ's Restaurant. I love working there, but it is always stressful being a server. The food is great, management is cool and I have met a lot of new friends. I started dating someone new 5 weeks ago and he would not be happy with me if he knew I was blogging about him. I like him a lot :)

The Most AMAZING People In My Life

My parents are the most amazing people I have ever known. I told them yesterday they are the best parents I have ever had in my life! :)

MOM is beautiful, loving, selfless, friendly, funny, generous, humble, hard working, virtuous, spiritual, encouraging, and supportive. I could go on and on with words that describe what a wonderful mother and person she is. I don't know a single person that dislikes my mother. Having eight children alone shows how amazing she is, and she still looks good too! Over the past four months that my car has been in Barstow, mom has let me use her car when I didn't have a rental car. She would drive the 1966 VW Beetle, that we have, to work everyday and allow me to take her car to school and work. She puts her children above herself in every situation and I never hear her complain about it. She does not care about having the newest car or clothes. She cares that we are all happy and living our lives in a way that will bring us back to our Heavenly Father. She is optimistic about life and never let's us see her discouraged. I love my mother more than life itself. I hope one day I can be half the wife, mother, and woman that she is. I love you Mommy!


POP is funny, handsome, encouraging, fiesty, opinionated, strong, powerful, athletic, spiritual, persuasive, and generous. My father is one of the funniest people I know, which helps when it comes to all the freak outs I have. He encourages me whenever I make a decision to do something and I can always count on his opinion whenever I am being indecisive. He has always provided for our family in every way that he could, which I'm sure was difficult at times with eight children. He loves children and I see it in his eyes every time he sees one of his grandchildren. He loves all of his children and always let us know it. If ever we needed anything, Pop would provide it for us, no matter what it took. He is selfless and gives so much. I understand more, now that I am older, what a task it must have been to have six daughters. He is such an example to me. Whatever calling he has at church, he gives tenfold and shows us what it means to be a strong member of our church. He loves our mother and shows us what a husband should be. I love my father more than life itself. I hope one day I can marry a man that is as incredible a husband and father as he has been to my mother and all of his children. I love you Poppy!

I am the luckiest girl in the world!

FINALLY!!!!

After 4 months and 6 days I FINALLY got my car back! It has been in Barstow getting fixed and has been the worst experience ever! I do not like cars anymore, but I definitely love having my car back.
High Desert Collision is the automotive repair company that had my car. I would call every week since I got in my accident and ask how the repairs were coming along. They would lie and tell me another week or two, or just one more part. I finally had Pop start calling and ask them about my car, about a month ago. They would lie to him as well about how soon my car would be done. He talked to Bill from the shop one time and told him that he thought him and Junior (the owner) were liars and we were going to have to get our lawyer involved. Bill told Pop to do what he needed to do, so Pop also told him he was going to make fliers about how horrible they have been and that they were both liars. Bill then told Pop to F*@! off! Seriously! I was like "Are you SERIOUS?" I started crying again because I didn't know when I was going to get my car back or how. Then, last week when I was supposed to go pick up my car, they told me that all I needed was a paper of Guarantee from Traveler's insurance and a copy of the last check that would be in the mail. My insurance agent did that for them and we were ready to drive down to Barstow. We were going to get a rental car to drive down there and right before we went High Desert Collision called me. They said that the Guarantee was no longer good enough and that we could not get the car until the check had arrived. Again another cry fest.
I wrote a complaint to the Better Business Bureau and the Bureau of Automotive Repair in California. Bill from the BAR called me last week and let me know he was handling my case and was going down to Barstow to check on my car. He checked out my car on Monday and called to let me know I would be able to pick up the car even though HDC did not have the check yet. I think he may have persuaded them somehow, or threatened I hope.
Tuesday, Pop got a rental car so we could drive down to Barstow on Wednesday. He told the guy at the rental place that he wanted something fun to drive around. So, we got a white convertible mustang! I think Pop was a little excited about it. We got to Barstow around 3:45 and talked to Bill at the shop. I signed the papers and we were off! I was really nervous driving my car home. I don't think I will be driving on any trips anytime soon.
I have cried more times than I can count when it comes to this whole experience. I felt like a nut case. It has been a whirlwind and I hope no one ever has to go through what I went through!

Fall Fun!

This is going to be a really long post! This past weekend I went to San Clemente with the activities committee in my ward. We all got to bring a friend with us. I brought my friend Kelly with me. We got to Cali late Friday night and everyone ate homemade chili and just hung out. We stayed at the Burr's house, which is right down the street from the beach. On Saturday we had a fun day at the beach. That night we had a bonfire and then drove back home.

Sunset

The Fisherman's Restaurant

Kelly let me bury and make him into an octopus

Kelly, me and Bryan

This past Halloween was really fun. I was wearing mom's old Lancerette uniform the first part of the night, but decided I would be more comfortable as a doctor in scrubs. A bunch of friends and I went to a party and then we went hot tubbing afterwards.

Megan, me and Jen

Eric, me and Darcy

This year I was on the Homecoming committee at Institute. At UNLV we have a contest between all the clubs the week before the Homecoming game. There was a carnival, window painting, floats, and tons of other fun stuff! LDSSA (Latter Day Saint Student Association) won overall for Homecoming this year! We won King and Queen, the window painting, the float, and best club in the talent competition! I love UNLV!

Me and Hey Reb!

Clayton hand painted the stained glass rose window

Trent airbrushed this window... he is amazing!

Birthday #22!

This year's birthday was one of my best by far! I told Lindsey and Courtney, jokingly, they should throw me a surprise party about a month ago. Court got really excited and said alright. Then, I got really excited about it. Court said it couldn't be a surprise because I was already telling people about it, so I helped plan it with her. Linds and Court decided it should be Jungle/Safari themed, which I loved! We went to Elephant Bar a couple months ago and I told them that that restaurant is how I want my wedding to be because it is Jungle themed. I think that is where they got the idea. Pop made my invitations, Court and Mom bought the food, and we had the party at Courtney's gram's house. I invited about 55 people to the party and probably 25 showed up. No one swam because it was too cold, but we barbecued, played the Wii and had a lot of fun just hanging out. The party started at 6 and I got home at about 11:30. When I got home I went bowling with Jen, Eric, Chris, Josh, and Preston. The bowling alley took my picture and put it one of the tv screens. It was seriously one of the happiest days!

Me

The Cake

Playing the Wii

Opening presents

Me, Derek, and Linds

Judit, Me, and Maria

Linds, Me, and Court

Sunday, we had everyone over for dinner. Mom made beef stroganoff, my favorite. There were no left overs either, everything was eaten! We had left over birthday cake from my party and ice cream. I had to leave early to go study with some friends from my Ultrasound classes, but it was really fun having everyone there! Especially Kara and Hallie. Thanks for coming down this weekend, it made it even more special!

Sarah, Me, and Brynn

Mom and I

Me and the cake

Tuesday, my actual birthday was really laid back. I slept in and went to get my TAM card for my new job. I will post about that once I pass all my tests. I had class that night and just went home afterwards. I got a ton of messages from friends and family all day telling me Happy Birthday. I was happy all day long. It was a really good day!

Tonight we went to Claim Jumper for my Birthday dinner. It was really good as usual. Thanks Mom, Pop and Emily!

Me and Emily

Mom and Pop

Mom's buggin' me to update...

I no longer work at the pool and am trying to find another job. I have 4 one day a week classes so the rest of the time I have to find something to occupy my time. It is really hard to study because my classes are super boring. On Tuesday this week I went to a spin class that a boy in my ward teaches. It was really hard! Then, at the school gym I went to a boot camp fitness class. That night, I went indoor skydiving with two guys in my ward. I think I over did it a little too much that day and when I got home at 1am I had a fever of 101.4. I missed class the rest of the week and was in bed most of that time. Mom took me to the doctor because she though it might be Strep. I didn't have the strain they test for, but the doctor gave me Z-pak anyway because he said it could be another strain. But over all I'm better and loving life in Vegas!


Emily and I now share all of our clothing, shoes, and jewelry. It is just easier than fighting over stealing each other's stuff. We still drive each other nuts on occasion though... and we miss Kylie!!!

I have been dating a lot lately. Pop told me the other day he was disappointed in me after I finished telling him and mom about 3 different boys that had taken me on dates. I was surprised and asked him why he would be disappointed. He said because it had taken me four years to finally date like this. I just laughed at him, but it was true. I am finally experiencing dating like I should have along time ago. One of my dates the other night took me to get a Henna tattoo on the strip. It was really fun! I got my name in Arabic on the back of my neck.

LAKE TRIP 2008

My friend Jen Chatwin asked if I wanted to go with a bunch of people to the lake on Saturday. I had been sick during the week, but told her I should be good by then. I was really excited because I hadn't been wake boarding since last summer with Katie's family, and wanted to see if I still had it to get up on the first try. We went with Chris Rodarte, Josh Wood, Preston Day, and Sam Tielemans. We met at Chris's house at 7 am and headed out for the lake. We wake boarded and tubed til 2 in the afternoon. The boys had priesthood session at 4 for stake conference, so we had to cut the day short. When we got back home we all went to Firehouse subs for lunch. Jen and I decided to go to a young single adult bbq later that night. Megan Miller, Eric Forbush, and Josh Wood came with us. After the bbq we decided to go to Red Mango and hang out for awhile. Then, we went bowling at Sunset Station. It was one of the most fun days I have had all summer. Thanks for inviting me Jen!

Me, Jen, and Chris

Jen and I

I got up the first try!

Just Hanging out

Megan, Jen, Eric, Me, and Josh

My knees after the lake...