Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I am all moved in! Life is good here at the new house. I should post some pictures. I SHOULD do a tons of things here lately. I'm pretty aggravated with myself because I keep making a lot of lists to do things, but nothing EVER gets done. Typical right?

I have a little bit of a cold today. I don't feel too bad...took some dayquil and I am surviving. The most annoying part is the heavy breathing! I can't stand to listen to myself breath so loudly haha. Maybe tomorrow I'll be back to normal.

Christmas was great. I seriously wish we were on holiday time all the time. I love my family. We have so much fun together. I should be mad at some of them though--someone gave me a cold :( just teasing. Santa Claus still visits our house. I love that just about the time we are all WAY too old for SC, Nicole had a baby. thank you Nicole for keeping that dream alive! Antonio was so cute this year. He is 3 and understands so much more...we were able to build up Christmas a lot this year. We told him he had to be a good boy, that SC visits when he goes to sleep etc... It was so fun.

My cousin always brings his newest "toy" over on Christmas Day so he brought the Wii game system over with a game called Just Dance 2. We had a blast! My dad danced (and was winning up until the very last few seconds) and we were probably shaking the whole house. Cousin (Jesse) even let me borrow Just Dance 1 for my new house. I haven't got to play yet, but I think that might be my cardio workout tonight :) It is such a fun game!

Not much else going on here. I am really enjoying having time off from subbing at the school. Not sure if that is really what I want to do with my life. Such a confusing decision. It makes me very grateful that I've decided to serve a mission for the Church. I know that is what I am meant to do at this point in my life. There is no confusion with it. That is a feeling I have always enjoyed. Peace. Such a simple but amazing thing. Every time I tell people about my mission I feel so wonderful.

mission update-I am finished with all the questions. I have to get a physical (figuring out who to use this week and getting over this cold) and I have to take a picture. I don't have anything recent that I like, so I need to take a picture soon. Oh how stressful lol

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

best of intentions....

I decided I would start blogging every other day about random thoughts and things going on in my life--but I'm having trouble figuring out when I have the time to do that. :P

I've changed my mind--HUGE SURPRISE! (jk)--not going private with the blog. Thank you for taking your time to email your email accounts. So sorry I wasted your time!

This past month has been CRAZY. My little sister is getting married (which I hear is stressful) and to top it off, she is getting married here at our house! I know that this past week my whole family is on edge and about to ready to strangle each other. Makes the Thanksgiving holiday a little interesting. But I will admit--I still think I have the best family on this earth. I am so happy when they are all here. My dad's siblings live all over Texas so I see them once/maybe twice a year and I love it! I wish I could see them more--and I should make more of an effort to see them. I am already thinking about how sad I'll be when they leave this weekend. I hate going back to the normal swing of things. I want it to be holiday schedule all the time. Work half a week and visit family for a looooong weekend. I love it!

I can't believe my little sister is getting married. Seems like yesterday she was dancing around in her little frilly panties. We called her Tiny Hiny and she hated it! I think I expected her to live at home forever and be a teenager until the end of time. Guess I don't get my way on that one!

House update--I moved most of my stuff into my friend's house this week and I'm getting sooooo excited!! Abbey moves in next Saturday and we will finally be roomies!! I think we will have a good time even if it is only for a few months. (I put my availability date for my mission as March 1)

I am finished with my mission application except for one question--still can't find my error. And I have to get a physical. eek. I have not lost ANY weight or made any body changes in the last 2 or 3 months. I lost that first 20 so easily and now I'm stuck. {am I repeating myself? I feel like I tell people this all the time...} I think I'll just plan my physical for the first or second week in January and be done with it. I am healthy. I am fairly active and shouldn't have any problems serving a mission. I'll just keep praying to stay healthy! and pray that the doctor agrees!!! lol

Not much else going on here. I babysat Tony today (first time in a while since Nicole stays at home now) and we had fun. He is such a sweet-cuddly guy. He will even ask "wanna cuddle me?" How precious is that!? I can't wait to have children. I know it will be at least a few years and probably more, but it is something I look forward to. I am so happy. I just love and appreciate my family so much. The Lord is gracious and I am so blessed.

private!

I'm going private this week with this blog. I am going to create a new blog off of this account and I might keep it public. I'm not quite sure. Just a heads up that I'm making the change. I think you'll have to request to see the blog?? I'm not really sure lol. I'm not going to deny anyone so keep an eye out for it :)

hmmm...

Woke up today with an awful headache. I felt like my head might explode if I even breathed hard. I missed church and needless to say, my day was horrible. I was in a great mood this whole week while I anxiously waited for the arrival of the bestie (Abbey) and we had such a good weekend. We checked out the house and I finally settled on a bedroom. We are making so many plans for that house that I am getting more and more annoyed that I have to wait until December. We got to spend time just chatting and hanging out. We even went to a YSA activity last night. I don't know if last night bummed me out--or if missing church due to a headache made my day horrible, but it just wasn't good.

This week was pretty good. I was asked to sub at the school twice this week and I am looking forward to putting that money into my savings account. I am so ready to save up for my mission. It seems like the past month was full of money spending and no working. So typical. I am kind of wanting to get a job to make more money, but I really don't want to give up my schedule I have now. I like getting practice with 'teaching' at the school and I REALLY don't want to give up my free time that I use for working out. I hate making decisions. I always joke to my mom that I want someone to make my decisions for me and I want that person to suffer the consequences.

On a way better note--I am so thankful that the Lord keeps showing me that serving a mission is what I need to be focusing on now. Mom gave me the insurance information I needed and I am so pleased. I really thought it would take her longer, so I was a little surprised when she told me so quickly. I have a dentist appointment this week so I am crossing my fingers that everything is good to go. I really wanted to lose a few more pounds before I went to the doctor, so I am working out often and trying to eat healthy. I am in a healthy weight range to serve a mission. It was a question I asked when I talked to the Bishop, but I really want to be way below that 'line' so there is no doubt that I can do anything!

I guess I'm finished for the day. thinking about going private with my blog--what do you thinkg? Have a good week!

it has been too long...

I haven't blogged in a while because of pure laziness. Or maybe it is because I get in a weird mood where I don't want anyone to know what is going on with me. I don't know why I get that way, but I do.

Life is good. Pretty blissful and imperfect--just the way it should be.

My best friend Abbey is FINALLY moving back home. She moved to Austin, Texas the summer before my senior year to start school at the University of Texas. We are getting to live in the same town for the first time since then and to my pure delight, we are going to move into a house together. The house is about a mile down the road from my parents' house now and is gorgeous! I will post pictures soon. I am so excited to spend lots of time with the bestie!

I am also working on turning in my application to serve an eighteen month mission for my church. I have the paperwork just about finished and I am so excited! I'll continue to update you on my mission status as the weeks go on.

Yamboree was this week here in Gilmer. The whole square closes down to make room for rides, games and food booths. I love it! I know a lot of people hate the Yamboree and dread it, but I enjoy it so much. Last year I signed up to help with the boy scout concession stand and did it again this year. (at least I think it is the boy scouts--they passed around a sign up sheet at church and I signed up) I love working in the booth. It always gives me a chance to talk to people that I don't get the chance to talk to during church or any other time. I really do like to socialize with people, but I struggle with starting up conversations with people. If I'm forced to do it (in a small booth) then it isn't too hard for me. I haven't ridden rides at the yamboree since I was in 8th grade but a friend asked me to this year and so I bought a $17 arm band and rode rides. I had so much fun. I love six flags but typically can't afford to go, so this was a nice fix. Of course you all know I love food, so there should be no surprise that I ate tons! :) I won't give you my food list.... lol

I feel so guilty about my workouts. I lost 20 pounds and then nothing. I've really lost my motivation to keep with my schedule. I need to get back with the program. I'd love to lose at least 30 more pounds before I leave for my mission. I want to be healthy and ready for anything that the Lord puts in front of me. My goal this week is to make it to my 5am workout class both days and do at least 30 minutes of cardio at 3 other times. I also want to eat lots of fruits and veggies this week. And NO fried food at all. Wish me luck!

birthday pictures

Abbey and I on the boardwalk.

Me and my cake!

my awesome cake!

21st birthday

My birthday was fantastic! I am so blessed with great friends and a wonderful family.

Abbey :) You made my birthday spectacular...'shorty gotta booty like pow pow pow' Hope that is stuck in your head for a while! thank you, a thousand thank yous!

I have fb again, so I'm not going to upload tons of pictures on here but I will put a few every now and then. I will post one of my cake!! My cake was AWESOME! My mother went above and beyond to make it special. It had all my favorite things and I loved it!

I've lost 12 pounds!!!!!! Since about the end of May. I'm seeing results for the first time in a while and I love it. I feel so good and it is because I am moving! I walk/run/skip/dance every day and I feel awesome. I never realized I just needed to get off the couch and be consistent with something. I know that the weight isn't going to come off this easy as I get closer to my goal, but I will keep working hard. I want to be fit and healthy for the rest of my life and I know that requires some effort on my part.

I've decided to start scrapbooking again. I miss it so much and I really want to share my happy memories with my children one day...or just remind myself!! :) I love pictures and videos. I watched some home videos of me as a baby/toddler yesterday and I couldn't stop tearing up!!! I just love looking back on happy moments.

another bit of news for me--I want to serve a mission for my church. I don't know a lot of details yet, but I know I want to do it. I've never been super close to someone who has gone so I am pretty clueless. I do know that the Gospel has changed my life. I've always believed it was true because I trusted my parents and friends in the Church. I now know that it is true. I know with all my heart that we were sent to Earth to be happy. We have an amazing Heavenly Father who loves us and I want the world to know! I am so happy and I want everyone to feel that way. Hopefully I'll have some more information soon so I can keep you all updated and so I can decide what to do with myself right now!!!

Love you :)