Thank you Heavenly Father!!!

Ok I'll be the first to admit, I have a bit of a led foot. But I really do try to keep the speeding to a minimum. Tonight I lost concentration and it caught up to me. So I was driving to Amber and Nicole's house for birthday cake to celebrate Amber's B-day. I'm kinda in a hurry cause I was talking after the fireside and left about 5 minutes after everyone else. Well to kill to birds with one stone I called Hailey back in an attempt to end our game of phone tag. Normally this is not a problem. Well tonight at some point I went into auto pilot. My body was doing the driving...feeding off my emotions of I'm in a hurry. It knew where I was going, I was aware of my immediate surroundings...the cars on either side of me, the narrowness of the road, et cetera. All of a sudden I look down as I'm excellerating and I'm already going 55mph. I let off the gas and about that time came the flashing lights in my rear view mirror and the siren. I was toast. There was nothing I could do...I had no excuse....what made it worse is I really had no idea whether the speed limit was 35 or 45mph and I was in a construction zone (found out it was the of course the 35mph right there). Then to make matters worse I went to get out my license out of my purse and it wasn't there...I realized it was probably in pants still from dancing at Stoney's last night...by this point I realized I was screwed and all I could do was pray. Not only did I not have my license but I still haven't taken the time to update my address since I moved a year ago and had to give that information. When asked about my last ticket...luckily 4-5 years ago...I had to tell her it was for speeding too. Long story short. I prayed the whole time she was gone and when she came back my prayers were answered. She told me there were a number of things she could site me for....no lisence, no updated address on my lisence, speeding, & speeding in a construction zone. She then handed me my registration and insurance card and told me to pay attention, slow down, and get to get my things in order. I said thank you to her and then over and over to my Heavenly Father...why she didn't haul me off to jail or give me a big fatty fine, only He knows. Whatever the reason though...I am extremely grateful.

Bitter Sweet Changes

2 years ago on Christmas Eve I moved to Las Vegas. 3 weeks later I started attending the North Star Singles Ward. 3-4 weeks after that I was called to the Special Events Activities Commitee. 8 months ago I was called as the Special Events Commitee Chair. Next week I am being released...I figure I can blog this cause hardly anyone knows about my blog and those that do aren't even a part of my ward anymore. I had just had a planning meeting and planned both sports and ward activities for the next 5 months and was totally excited about all of the activites. Then came Bro. Brimhall to let me know I was being released. He asked me how I felt and quite frankly at the time I had no words because I didn't know how I felt. I have been in that calling practically since I moved into the ward. As the day went on it started sinking in. This weekend is my final activity in North Star...that I'm in charge of and or majorly involved with. I'm sad because although this calling can be EXTREMELY stressfull at times, I enjoy it. Its fun for me...I mean yes I wish at times I could relax and enjoy the activities more but I have enjoyed putting things together and watching people have fun. Now I'm done and its kind of sad. On the other hand I'm relieved for all the reasons I'm sad. Now I can go and just enjoy the activities instead of worrying if everyone is having fun, is everything running smoothly, et cetera. I don't have the stress of making sure everything doesn't fall apart thus letting down 50-100 plus people. It will definitely be less stress!...for now...I was told I'm being given a break but I am still needed in the ward and something else is coming soon...not knowing what exactly that entails is a little scary I'm not going to lie. All in all I just have some major mixed emotions...its definitely bitter sweet.

Fun times in UT

So I had the chance to go up to UT this last weekend! I had a great time! We went up to throw a baby shower for my new little nephew! It was safari themed and we had fun decorating. I made a safari themed diaper cake...my first and it came out quite cute, I was very impressed with myself! Mom and Lori made monkey and frog cupcakes and zebra and lion sugar cookies (I helped with the frogs). Mom also made homemade clam chowder...MMMMMM!!!...and we ate them with bread bowls. My new little nephew is so adorable! He is truely a blessing and gift from our Father in Heaven.
Not only did I get to see my Brother, sister-n-law, and my new nephew, and other family members, but I also got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a LONG time! My long time friend from middle school Melody and I had lost touch over the years and got to see each other for the first time in 11 years! I saw Nancy (4 years), Gus and Eva (2-4 years), Amy (2 years), Holly (6 months), Mike (4 months), and Kyle (3 months). It was awesome, it was like a mini reunion with friends from all walks of my life! Sadly there are many more up there that I wasn't able to see...hopefully next time. It was great to see everyone and do a little catching up.
It was exactly the get away I needed to refresh...not really relax, there wasn't much time for that....and it was just mentally rejouvinating!

In a funk...

Do you ever have those down moments where you wish you were anywhere but where you are and yet you can't really decide on where that would be. I mean there are a million places I'd rather be and a million things I'd rather be doing but I'm stuck...in life, relationships (self, friends, family, work, et cetera), work, school, church, et cetera. Sometimes I feel that just as I finally take one step forward I'm pushed back two. It's almost like a bad rollercoaster ride at a theme park that never ends but every once in a while it gives you the false hope of an end and just around the next corner all you find there is another hill to climb and drop, to what seems your death, or a loop de loop to follow and try not to fall off. Well I'm there and what's worse is I feel like crying, I just don't know for sure what I'm crying about or how I got to this point. Now I'm just holding on to the hope that it will get better. There is a reason we go through everything we go through...though sometimes its hard to imagine how the things we are going through or the things we are feeling can possibly be necessary or beneficial. I just pray that this funk goes away soon and that I can figure out how to get out of it.

Merry Christmas...try CRAZY Christmas

Talk about a crazy Christmas! It all started the night before Christmas Eve as we got ready to go to Utah for Christmas and to see the newest addition to our family! Ron and Jessica adopted a beautiful baby boy!! Zachary Jesse West is the greatest gift our family could have received this Christmas! So we were getting ready. Mom took the Ex to have the tires rotated and they were all 4 dryrotted on the side walls to the point that we were lucky we hadn't had a problem. (Welcome to the heat of the desert!) Then Christmas Eve morning My brother-n-law Josh and a family friend Frank were supposed to rough up the brakes so they wouldn't squeal (since they didn't seal right when we had them put on a year and a half ago). They took them off only to find they were shot and so were the disks (talk about a bit of a delay), once again lucky for no problems. Finally they tracked down all the parts and replaced the brakes. So finally we the Ex was travel worthy. So since we didn't have room for all the presents, luggage, 5 adults, and 2 children in the car we did something my family has never done before....we opened presents on Christmas Eve!! It was Mom, Dad, Lori, Josh, Thomas, Maddison, and I. It was fun watching the kids...Maddy is almost old enough to really understand and fully grasp the excitement, Thomas is just a riot as usual! Anywhoie, on with the Saga. So once we were done we packed up, stopped and grabbed a bite for the road and headed to UT at about 8pm Christmas Eve. 10 HRS later @ 6am (our time 7 UT), snow and ice up the wazoo we finally made it to Midway, UT where we were staying in Lori & Josh's timeshare! It was a beautiful winter wonderland! We unpacked and went to bed before the sun rose and it was too late for Santa to come! 3 hours later we were up and getting ready to spend Christmas Day with Ron, Jessica, and Zachary. Well due to road conditions it took about 2 & a half-3 hours to make an hour & a half drive. Then it was time to make Christmas dinner and ooh and ahh over Zachary! It was fun until we had to drive home, I don't think it really stopped snowing the entire time we were there! 2 hours later we were back to the time share. Then on Friday we got up and headed back to Ron and Jessica's. We got there, ate lunch, and Dad had not been feeling so great and was just having horrible pain in his sholder. So I volunteered to take him to a quick care and since he'd probably be there a while I could run make some returns and be back before he was done. Not so much. I got an urgent call from Mom telling me to come back right away and pick them up. They were rushing Dad to a hospital by ambulance. He had a weird arythmia in both chambers of his heart but by the time he got the hospital it had corrected itself. A Priesthood Blessing, 2 Chest x-rays and ct scan of his chest, multiple ekgs and blood tests, & 2 & a half days later the doctors decided he had pnemonia and the arythmia was a 3rd part block which had actually been caused by some of his new blood pressure medication. Unfortuneately by this time it was already Sunday and Mom and Dad had decided that regardless of wether they actually let him or not (pending the results of some more tests) out the rest of us needed to go home and go back to work. The drive home was so much quicker! Only about6 hours which is closer to normal. So Dad after the doctors confidently told him he was fine...heart wise...he caught a flight home that night and Mom stayed behind to help Ron and Jess with Zachary, as originally planned. Dad's doing a lot better now and his recovery seems to be going farely quickly which is a good thing. So that was my CRAZY Christmas! A Christmas to remember. Full of trials monetarily, physically, mentally, and spiritually. But along with those trials came countless blessings and opportunities to grow.