The Sky is Blue and Life is Grand :)

One of the things I REALLY love about living here is how blue the sky is. It's sooo beautiful!! It reminds me that God created all of this and it really is amazing.

I've been driving around a lot getting to know the area and it's actually kind of fun to just drive and see the beautiful land around me. Yesterday I went to Durango, CO for the first time and honestly I couldn't stop smiling the whole way. The sky was a clear beautiful blue and when I rounded one corner, mountains full with snow were there. I LOVED it!!

It may be something simple as the blue sky to brighten my day but it was so great!! I just loved the scenery!!

Driving :) Love the clear blue sky!!

Parking lot in Durango.... love the snow!!

And to top it off I got this beautiful photo of my sweet Elissa on her baptism day. I sent her some flowers since I couldn't be there and she loved them!! Isn't she so cute?!! I love her!! Life is grand! :)

Five Things....

I'll admit it... but so far this has been the hardest weekend here. It's only been 22 days since I left (yes.. I counted) but it feels like forever ago. I honestly feel like I've been here for at least two months. Crazy how fast time has gone by already. I think this weekend is especially hard because one of my good friends got married this weekend and sadly I couldn't make it home for the wedding. I keep seeing all these posts on FB about it and finally just had to log out and not check it because it makes me kind of homesick.

Don't get me wrong... I KNOW this is where I am supposed to be and I'm okay with that but it's only natural to have homesick tendencies every now and then right? At least I hope so :) Thank goodness for the phone and internet so I can keep in touch with everyone. And I love having phone calls with my mom and sister and Em at least once a week :)

I was texting Em and she reminded me to keep an eternal perspective on things and I was SO grateful she reminded me of that because I had forgotten. I do love that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me and is there for me no matter what and He has a plan for me.

Anyways... enough of this sappy stuff haha ;) Because I've been feeling a little homesick I wanted to write down five things that I've liked about my new home. I think I need to do that just for me to remind me that I'm where I'm supposed to be. I'm sharing with all of you because otherwise I might not really write them down haha ;)  So here they are:

1. Clear beautiful big blue skies :) Yes I love this!! No smog!! And the sun is even brighter and it just makes everything look so beautiful! (I'll  have to take a picture one day).
2. No traffic...or little (although people here like to tailgate more than ever but I like no traffic)
3. Small town feel :) I really like this town. Granted some of the shopping could be a little bit better but I love that it's small yet still feels somewhat big too but not like a city.
4. Shopping within 5 minutes of me :) Yep that's right... I've got a mall, Target, Grocery, you name it all super close :) Well okay the gym I want to join is ten minutes but still... it's all super close which is pretty awesome :) I think my favorite thing is that Target is less than five minutes :)
5. My new place :) I love it!! At first I thought okay this will get some getting used to but I love it :) I love how open it is for the most part and I love that I can decorate my own place :)


Anyways... see even after writing down just these five things I feel good :) Sure I miss home but I'm not super homesick (well I wasn't really bad to begin with but I do miss it). I'm glad I was able to find a good job and move to this wonderful place. I know that I will make friends and then it will be even better :) Life is good. Even if you are having a bad day I suggest writing down five good things that happened today :)

Happy Weekend!! :)

Goodbye Party

I should have done this post a while ago but... I didn't have internet at the time and really... didn't have time to post about it. Now that I have a few days off AND my internet is installed...it's time.

I don't know if in my post about moving here I said this but the last week before I moved was pretty stressful. I had only two weeks to find a place to live and pack up the rest of my stuff and get out here before I started work. The last couple of days were probably the worst and I'm pretty sure I had (and still might) a stress ulcer from all of it. Anyways...that's the background of where I'm going with this post :)

The day before the move was by far the most stressful day ever. It was a Friday and I was frantically trying to get everything done including a last minute oil change. I had to go pick up the moving truck and had all my plans into place. I was going to pick up the truck and pack it at four and then go to bed early since I had a long drive the next day. For those of you who know me, you know that I like to plan things and that I like to somewhat stick to my plan. Well...that didn't quite happen. It took an hour for the oil change (because I'm dumb and haven't changed my oil in ages and the guy chewed me out for it)...then I barely had time to run home grab stuff before I had to meet my mom to pick up the moving truck. We got the truck and I drove it back to the house and Nick followed behind in his car b/c we were supposed to go to storage and get my mom's book boxes out of storage (long story...maybe another post). Anyways, we met the Elders at my house and I told Nick that I didn't think my turn signals were working. Sure enough they weren't. So I had to drive back to the rental place and funny how they just started working on the way back but I made them check everything out anyways. So then we didn't start packing the truck until about 430.

Nick had told me that he was supposed to meet a friend at his house at 5 and wanted me to come and check out his new blue dress suit he had gotten. I told him I didn't need to go and he insisted I go. I said no...he could just text me a picture. Mind you he had told me a couple days before that I needed to go see the suit on Friday but I told him I didn't have time. Anyways, so Don, Craig and Nick packed up the truck (thanks guys!) and once it was all loaded it was about 530. Nick was still telling me in between us carrying boxes down the stairs that I needed to go check out this suit. I said no... a picture would do justice. Let me just say though that Nick likes me checking out his clothes to make sure they are suitable so I wasn't really suspicious. I started getting suspicious when Nick told my mom that I needed to go and my mom agreed with him. That's when I was like...wait...what's going on. Not that my mom never agrees with Nick but in this instance it was kind of suspicious. Anyways so once the truck was loaded Nick was insisting we go and I was being stubborn and said I wouldn't leave because the truck didn't have a lock on the back and I didn't want my stuff to be taken. I was being really stubborn about it and Craig even at one point offered to go buy me a lock (thanks Craig!). Mind you I was also tired and stressed :) My mom eventually talked me into going and said she would get a lock.

So we went over to Nick's and I started to go upstairs like usual to check out this "new blue suit". Well Nick tells me it's downstairs and I was like...why did you put it down here...that's weird. So I walk around the corner and he has the closet open like he is going to show me and it's not there. So then I said where is it and he closes the door and pushes me into the family/kitchen area and wow... got surprised. :) All my favorite peeps were there to wish me off one last time. It was sweet and I thought Nick did a really good job in surprising me (usually I'm never surprised and this time  I thought something was going to happen but wasn't sure). Here are some pictures...mind you I was VERY tired and so I don't look great but oh well...gotta capture moments for posterity ;)

Denise, Me and Shelby

Me and Mandy!! :) 

Me with the newlyweds Jon and Amber :) I like this one the best of all three of us...Amber can't ever make a straight face when all three of us are taking pictures :)

Isabella and I :) 

The mastermind behind it all :) 

Amber and I :) 

Anyhow... I sadly didn't get pictures with everyone that was there but those are some pictures of some of my favorites that we did catch on camera  :)

Happy Birthday Emily!!!!

It's no secret I LOVE birthdays! But honestly I only love them if its not my own! I hate having the attention all on me and it's just another day but I love saying Happy Birthday to people and remembering their special day.

Today is a special day. It might be another day for other people but today is a special day for me. It's Emily's birthday!!! I seriously LOVE her and her family! I think back of when I first met Emily and to be honest I can't even remember a specific time frame. I have a general idea but not for sure but it doesn't matter because we've known each other for SO long and seriously she is family to me.

It was funny the other day because I told her I had to work the early shift but then I would be off and have an early start to my weekend. She was like "Oh good it's a special weekend" because my brain was so fried I thought she was referring to me getting internet on Monday and told her no.. it's just another ordinary weekend full of unpacking, cleaning and laundry. Then she replied saying oh haha yeah I guess it's just special for me. I about died. I haven't forgotten her birthday... I really haven't but that moment I did. It's all that reading and writing and computer work I'm doing haha!

Anyhow.... today is Emily's birthday and I just wanted to write on the blog (and for journal purposes) and say Happy Birthday! Emily has always been there for me through thick and thin and I seriously don't know what I would do without her. She is amazing!! I can't wait for her to come visit me so we can hang out!! (I live a lot closer to her now :) ).

Happy Birthday Em! Thanks for being a true, real friend and always being there for me! Love you!

Life.....

Okay so really it's only been two weeks since I made my BIG move and am all on my own but honestly....it feels ALOT longer!!! I feel like I've been here for at least a month. Crazy how fast time is already going!!!

I've successfully completed two weeks of orientation but that was just getting my feet wet. I still have ALOT more training and orientation but I'm grateful for it. By the end of the day I'm totally exhausted and do not want to read or write anything!! haha so I usually pop in a movie watch half of it and fall asleep. I know so exciting. I like the people I'm working with and that makes a good difference too. It's such a good work environment that I think I will really enjoy it once I'm done training and have a lot more confidence in doing things.

I concurred the laundromat today and let's just say it was an experience. Hopefully I won't have to do that a whole lot longer because my first purchase ideally will be a washer/dryer. If I have to do the laundromat a few more times....ok....but it's one of my least favorite things haha.

Anyways.... life is good. I'm unpacking more books today and hauling them up the stairs to the guest bedroom that eventually will have bookshelves (the boxes are too heavy to carry up). A new friend I met Jamie who is the dietician at the dialysis place in town is bringing over her old desk tomorrow. I haven't decided where I'm putting that yet. Ideally I would like it to go upstairs but the way my stairs are situated that might be a problem. (I'll post pictures at a later date when I have more things in order and cute for pictures!). Anyways... I will see if they can. If not I have a place for it downstairs.... Just would like it up.

It's nice having three days off in a row :) I maxed out on hours for the week so I have a three day weekend. I was SO excited to sleep in the morning....only didn't. Nope my body decided it was time to get up at six! Yeah...that didn't really happen. I just laid in bed and went back to bed for about an hour. Then got up and started getting things ready for my laundromat adventure. Now I'm at the library updating :) I will be getting internet service on Monday so that'll be good! Can't wait!

Anyways... nothing else to really say or tell. I did check out the singles ward here on Sunday. They were nice. It was a lot different since it's in the institute building and not the church building but that's alright. Hopefully I make friends there soon. In the meantime I just try to keep myself busy by planning out how I'm going to decorate my new place and talk to my mom and Em alot! :)

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!!!! :)