Old Town San Diego

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we decided it would be fun to go to Old Town San Diego. I love going down there but it's interesting that I've never been to the Mormon Battalion Center there until now. Weird huh. I guess everytime we've just gone to eat and kind of walk around. Anyways, we drove down there and walked around. Then we ate at a really good Mexican restaurant but the service was kind of slow...disappointing. Afterward we headed over the the Mormon Battalion Center and it's amazing!! If you haven't been before you should go! It's awesome!! I loved it!! Here are pictures of our fun day!

Bret talking with the guy at one of the museums

Aaron and Jeri

Mr. thinker

This was like the best photo of my mom (her eyes kept shutting) and Chad wouldn't smile AND look at the camera

Getting to dress up as a soldier

Mining for Gold 

Getting Water

Washing clothes

View from above -- San Diego 

Old Town San Diego

Me and My sis :)


The next few pictures are us on the wagon. No one told me to do funny poses but they all did lol. So I had to post them all because all of them are great!! :) 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours!!! I hope it's fantastic!! This is the fun we've been up to today!

Started off the morning playing football. I went to my ward....the boys went to the home ward. My ward didn't have a very great turn out but it was fun to hang out and kick a soccer ball around with Bella :) The boys ended up being gone even longer than I was! They didn't get back until almost 11:30! Crazy!

Miss Bella...she's fantastic! Didn't get a picture of me but that's okay b/c I didn't look so great lol 

Came home and prepped dinner some more (I like to prep a day early so the day of isn't too stressful). Turned out well for me I had all my stuff ready to go! :)

Went to the movies and saw the new Muppet movie. Had some great laughs. It  was awesome! Then we came home just in time to pull everything out for dinner. Sadly I didn't a picture of all of the food but we had tons!!! Thankfully no turkey leftovers since Tricia and Margaret brought Turkey (I'm not a turkey fan). It was so fun to sit down and have a nice great meal with all the family. The desserts were awesome too! We had five different kinds of pie and cake pops! (Bret ate most of the cake pops later lol) Good times!!

My cute napkin holders!!! Loved making them!

Thanksgiving flowers :) 

Gotta love these two haha Bret and Scott

Jimmy and Piper

Mom and Trish

Me and David

Me with my beautiful sister 

Jeri and Aaron :) 

My fruit plate I made :) 

The fruit dip...this was a BIG hit!! I will have to post the recipe sometime. It was gone by the end of the night

Kids table

And now just chillin' with the family. About to watch the new Pirates movie :)  Gotta love spending time with the family!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!! HOPE IT'S A GREAT ONE!

Random Thoughts:

*I am seriously loving this colder weather....however I only like it when I have a blanket I can cuddle in or a warm jacket and scarf to wear as well :)

*I would say I'm about 1/3 packed up for moving haha and I'm not even moving yet!! What can I say I'm a little excited and it's an excuse to clean out my room. There is still A LOT to do but I'm pleased with the work I've done so far.

*Biggest Loser is still one of my favorite shows I just haven't updated about it in a long long time. Reason: Um probably because Jillian isn't on there any more and I miss her. At least Bob is still there but I miss Jillian. Maybe I will do a post about it this week....maybe. Let's just say I'm glad that the people that really irritated me are already off so that's good :)

*I've failed at my Goals list for the year.... I think I've only accomplished one or two of them but the others are all a work in progress. My blanket that I'm crocheting will probably take years but I actually love working on it little by little. I just hope my idea for decor in my new place will fit with the blanket I'm making and all :)

*Water For Elephants is a good movie. If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest it. I didn't really think I would like it that much but I liked it....over all. There were a few parts that I felt could've been left out but oh well....there are those in every movie.

*Disneyland!! It's been on my mind a lot lately mainly because we haven't gone in a while. I can't even remember the last time I went but it was at the end of summer I believe. Sad day. I have plans to go this next week and the weather better not mess that up. I'm dying to go! My pass expires soon so I need to go because I'm moving I'm not getting it renewed :( so I have to go as much as can!! Or soak it all in for a whole year because that will probably be how long it will be before I go to Disneyland again once my pass expires.

*I found the cutest apartment and I'm sad that I can't even rent it yet. What's the point until I have my license there I can't work. :/ Frustrating. But I know things will work out...and I'm staying positive they will. I just hate the waiting game.

*Made the cutest napkin holders for Thanksgiving ever! And I'm totally excited about Thanksgiving Dinner this year! It's going to be GREAT!! Ah I just can't wait. The menu is all planned and the food I'm making is going to bomb!!! Don't worry I'll make it's own post about that no worries :) So excited for food, fun and family!!

Alright... hope you all enjoyed/endured my random thoughts.....and yep I wrote that all out in about five minutes! I've had a lot on my mind and there's more but I'll save it  for later. No pictures because I'm too tired haha but I will post in depth about some of this stuff later I promise!!

Yep I'm a Twilight Fan...so what?

Image found here

Guess what? I'm a Twilight fan and I'm not afraid to admit it. There are a lot of haters out there and that's okay I'm not into a lot of other series so it's all good. To be honest, I wasn't even a Twilight fan to begin with. The first book came out and everyone was raving about how great it was and I was like oh okay whatever. I'm not one to follow the crowd so I didn't even start reading the series until the 4th book came out. Yep, you read right, I didn't even start the series until Meyer's was done with the books. I read them over the summer after I was on break from school and loved them. Well mostly all of them. I am not a fan of book two at all and yes I'm Team Edward NOT Jacob. Jacob may be more good looking in the movies but Edward was always my favorite in the books.

The first movie came out and I was like ok but it wasn't made very well. Each movie has gotten better and better. Now everyone is hatin' on Breaking Dawn Part I. It's like I told my friend though, you can't be a true hater until you've read the books. Then you can decide whether you like it or not. Don't base it on the movie. There are always going to be critics with any movie and with any series. I'm sure the Hunger Games will have haters too but whatever. Point is, I'm am a Twilight fan and proud of it.  And I still love all of you who aren't!

Breaking Dawn Part I will die down in a few weeks but these opening weeks it's going to be a busy place at the theaters! But you betcha I went and saw it more than once. Quite exciting really. Because each time you see a movie more than once you notice things you didn't see before. And things I focused on the first time, I can focus more on something else the next time :) Anyways...just wanted to let the world know I'm a Twilight fan :)

My Next Adventure:

So remember in my post about news?? Well, the time has come to make the big announcement! Within the next few months, I will be moving to: FARMINGTON, NEW MEXICO!!! Yep! First let me tell you how exactly I came upon this job and then I will give you some details of my soon to be new home :)

Back in September I had applied for a dialysis job that said they were considering new grads. I got a phone call shortly there after from the nurse recruiter and had an interview. It was over an hour long and I didn't know how I felt about it, but I loved her. She was really helpful and caring. The job was in Chinle, Arizona which is on the Navajo Indian Reservation. I was a little weary of it all because there isn't much around there. She had told me at the time that Shiprock, NM was also a maybe possibility and when I looked it up I got really excited because there is an institute building there so I thought it would awesome to go there! Unfortunately at that time she had said that NM had decided to go with someone else. So.... I patiently waited to hear back from this job in AZ.

A couple weeks later I followed up with her to find out that the AZ job had decided to go with someone in house. I had told her that was ok because I had had 2 job interviews here locally. I was then offered a job here but only an on call position. Things didn't go exactly as I would have liked there and the day I sent in my resignation (long story but it was mutual and on good terms) I emailed the recruiter telling her that I was still open to the possibility of relocating if she had any other facilities willing to train a new graduate. That day I got a response back saying that I had a phone interview all set up for that Thursday with New Mexico. I was shocked!! So Thursday came and I had my phone interview and it went really well. She gave me a week to think things over and then called me a week later. I told her I had thought things over and I was really interested but really wanted to come out and check things out. So the following week, my mom and I headed out to Farmington, New Mexico :)

I originally was going to drive out there alone but I'm glad my mom was able to take the time off and make the long drive out there with me. We headed out on Monday and it took us 12 hours. Mainly because once we hit Flagstaff we drove through two snow storms. (According to Google Maps it should only take about 11 hours). Anyhow, I'm proud to say that I drove through a snow storm and made it out alive. Good thing I had my mom with me though!! We got to the hotel and settled in. I called the Admin of the facility and we made plans to meet up the next day.

The next day (Tues) I met her and she took me to lunch where I met another Admin for the facility actually in Farmington. We had lunch (it was soo good!) and then she took me to the facility in Shiprock.  Shiprock actually is about 30 miles away from Farmington but the drive is not too bad and there is no traffic so that's good :) I loved the facility and the staff there. The Admin sat me down and discussed the facility and then asked if I was interested in taking a position there. I said of course I would love to! The really awesome thing about it is that they are willing to train me in depth which is what I've been looking for. The downer is they can't give me a start date until all my paperwork is through and I have a New Mexico RN license. The wait will be on California endorsing my license because they take forever with EVERYTHING. So I am not looking to move until January at least. With all the holidays it will take that long to get everything into order.

The next day Mom and I went and wandered the town looking for apartments....which are scarce apparently. I did find one that I wish I had found when we were still there so we could have at least driven by it but it is really cute....at least according to the pictures :) That will also be one of the next things I need to get done is finding a place to live out there but I can't really do that until I have my license so I know I can start working there. I of course told my mom we HAD to go to Target. That's my store and I told my mom that I needed to make sure it was an ok one because I didn't want to start shopping at Wal-Mart. I'm a Target girl...always! If you think that's weird...whatever...my mom does too so you aren't alone lol. The Target was nice and they even have a mall there! The mall was not too big but not small either...the only bummer is they don't have an American Eagle Outfitters...my other store but I'll survive ;)

Farmington is actually a lot like Yucaipa, you have the rough parts and the nice parts. It's actually slightly bigger than Yucaipa too and that's it. There are only a few small towns around and then there is nothing for miles. Serious. I'm posting pictures so you can see haha. Anyways..it has one of the top ten golf courses in America and also hosts the Connie Mack Baseball series...those baseball fields are AMAZING! My brothers will be jealous.

Anyhow...that's my update! Weird to think it's all out in the open. I don't want to jinx anything but I figure since I can't keep it on the down low anymore then the world needs to know. My mom was SO glad when I told her she could finally tell people. So now that you all know you have to come out and visit me!!! It will be a huge change for me but I think it's the right change. The hardest part will be that I don't really know anyone out there and my family is far away. My sister will be the closest to me in Provo about 6-7 hours away. Here are some pictures of our drive to and from :)

Starting off...nice and sunny with LOTS of desert

Hello Snow!

This is what I will see every day :) 

Standing in four states at once... pretty cool huh! Bet you can't say you have ....if you haven't then come and visit me!! :) 

Four corners :) Don't mind my drabby self lol had to have proof

Isn't my mom just the cutest??

Shiprock... the Navajo town got it's name because of this rock that looks like a sunken ship.

The drive home.... seriously...this is ALL you see the whole trip. Good thing I had movies to listen to while I was driving. My mom had Enchanted songs in her head but hey I needed something I could sing to while she was sleeping or reading lol.


Anyhow...that's that!!! Now you all are in the know :) 

News!!!

So I've got some news!! Ready for it?! haha well I'm ready to share a LITTLE part not all of it yet. Mainly because I don't want to jinx anything because I will be sad if it doesn't happen. Ready? So I got a job offer in ______________. Haha...if I haven't told you yet don't worry, you will know soon enough. I've only told family and a few close friends. Anyways, I was offered a job in another state and I'm REALLY excited about it! I'm actually going out there next week to check things out, have an official interview in person and then if it all works out move there! There is a lot of paperwork involved with licensing and stuff but I already sent in the California paperwork so now I can start on this other state's as well.

I seriously am so excited and nervous at the same time. This will be a BIG change for me but I feel really good about it and I think it's what I'm meant to do. If next week goes well, then I will officially post where I'm going but in the meantime, you all have to stay guessing. And those of you who know, don't tell! I don't want to jinx anything haha.

Anyhow... life this week has been pretty great! I've got to have 3 one on one conversations with 3 of my favorite people and I loved every minute of it. I've got to do that more often. It's hard to talk about the in depth stuff when a bunch of people are around so it's nice to just do lunch and have one on one conversations.... of course that doesn't help my losing weight but hey it's worth it :)

I'm proud of all that I've accomplished this week and I've got a few more letters to write and then today will be perfect! Oh that reminds me, my cousin pointed out I forgot to mention where Aubrey and Victor are going on their missions! I fixed that post so now you can all see where they are at :)

Anyhow, keep checking my blog next week for an update! And I will officially share my news when I really feel I can but for now, just be excited for me :)

Till We Meet Again....

I know I'm constantly talking about missionary work but I don't think there is ever too much you can really say about it, it's awesome!! I love that my calling in the church lets me go to the missionary correlation meetings and that I get to help fellowship non members and those who get baptized. Anyways, with that said, missionary work is amazing and I have two awesome friends who have decided to go on missions as well. Coincidentally these two get to report the same day, TODAY! I told them it will be awesome and at least they might catch a glimpse of each other and see a familiar face. Now let me say a few things about each of them:

Called to Serve: Guatemala Retalhuleu Mission Spanish Speaking :) 

Aubrey is funny, smart, beautiful and a very strong person. She is motivational, lovable and one of the best listeners. I've known Aubrey for quite a few years. Her brother and I were in the same grade and did swim together. Aubrey was a few years younger but after high school we started talking more and hanging out more. She moved back home from Idaho and went to school here so I got to hang out with her a lot. We have grown closer in the last year and have helped each other cope with the passing of our Dad's. We've had a lot of in depth talks and I'm going to miss that but there is always letter writing :) A year and half isn't that long if you really think about it and she will be back before I even know it :) I'm so happy for her decision and I know she is going to do great things as a missionary!

Called to Serve: Milwaukee Wisconsin Mission Spanish Speaking :) 

Victor is amazing, caring, funny, and smart. This guy seriously always makes me smile and I think that's what I'm going to miss most is him making me smile. I actually just recently got to know him and I have to say I'm glad I did. To be honest Victor was a guy that I had heard things about that I chose not to listen to and when I got to know him better, I'm glad I didn't listen. He is an amazing person and really loves everyone. He has a caring heart and is always willing to help people out when they need it. He is a jokester but that's what makes him him. I am very glad I got to know him and I know that he will be an amazing missionary and he will do great things on his mission.

I am really looking forward to writing both of them!! In just a few hours they will be entering the MTC and I'm still waiting on addresses for both of them but I should be getting them soon! Can't wait to write them!! Never forget, Missionary Work is AWESOME!! :)

30 Day Challenge

Every year in the month of November I challenge Facebook friends to write on their status every day one thing they are grateful for. Last year I only had about five friends who took up the challenge (out of like 300 friends..that's sad) and posted what they were grateful for. I debated doing it again this year but I need to do for me. I need to remember all my blessings and be thankful. I hope all of my readers will join in, even if you don't have facebook or you don't want to on there, at least write down 30 things you are thankful for. I will post all 30 of mine on the blog the last day of the month but check out my Facebook wall if you want to see my daily posts.

I have loads of other things to blog about but this was something I wanted to do real quick. Remember what you are thankful for and thank God daily for all the wonderful things He has given you :) Happy November!