Today

Today was a productive lazy day.  Is that possible?  It is in my book! 

I got to sleep in a little bit, and woke up to this:

I am quickly learning that this is a typical winter morning in central/northern California!

I made my way over to my church for a cleaning assignment.  I think there were 8 of us that showed up and we finished cleaning in about 1-1/2 hours.  I cleaned all the windows in the building and also worked on the kitchen... we sorted through all the cupboards and reorganized/threw away a bunch of stuff and it looks so much better now!

I got my car washed... it was desperately needed.

I went grocery shopping for enough food to last me through Wednesday, when I leave for Utah!

I watched a Christmas movie.  I absolutely love Christmas movies!  But let me tell you there are slim pickings on Netflix and I left my other movies at home in Utah.  So today's choice was ABC Family's "Snow"... not much to get excited about and super cheesy, but it was cute.

For whatever reason I had a sudden urge to make cupcakes, so I went with it and I tried out my cake decorating set that I won from my family's Favorite Things exchange back in July!  I think they turned out pretty cute, except I couldn't get the frosting to turn red.  So my Christmas cupcakes are pink and green instead!

Today I also read a good chunk of my current book, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld.  I'm only about a fourth of the way into it, but so far it has a similar feel to the Hunger Games series, which I absolutely loved.  I'm excited to get into this new series!

And on a random note, type "let it snow" into Google and enjoy!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Tree Lane

For FHE on Monday my branch went to Christmas Tree Lane in Ceres, CA.  This definitely brought the spirit of Christmas!  We walked up one side of the street and down the other and loved all the houses!  Here are some of my favorites:

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It never quite feels like Christmas when I'm in California... the weather is too warm (although it is much colder here than in southern CA) and the Fall leaves are still falling from the trees!  And even though I don't have a Christmas tree or lights strung up at my apartment, a few things have happened this week to make it the season feel a little more festive:

 

Sadly this is the only picture I have for this post, but this is the Christmas tree in the small town I where I work.  It's plopped down right in the middle of the main intersection of downtown ("downtown" is a little different concept here than other places... it's basically a street 3 blocks long, lined with small shops and restaurants and not a traffic light in sight).  I think the barricades are up because the big wind storm a few weeks ago knocked some ornaments off the tree.  Too bad I didn't get a picture before that!

Last night I sang in our stake production of Handel's Messiah.  We have been practicing for several months and our hard work paid off.  I'd never heard the whole piece before, but it was so beautiful and I have to brag say we did a great job!

Last Monday I went with some friends to sing Christmas carols at a rest home.  We had never rehearsed and kind of faked our way through, but the residents absolutely LOVED it.  They were singing along and every time we stopped they would yell "Keep singing! More, more!"

Christmas movies on Netflix and the Christmas station on Pandora.  Enough said.

At my staff meeting last week we focused on donating to the county food bank.  Instead of a gift exchange, we did a challenge exchange.  Our supervisor read her traditional "Right Family" story and we exchanged challenges such as Christmas Trivia and fill-in-the-blank song lyrics.  It was kind of cheesy but still fun!

I was able to take a friend from church on a little shopping spree to get clothes that would be appropriate to wear to church.  It was actually really fun and very successful... we found 13 clothing items for just over $50!  I love that the church is there to provide for those who need it and that I got to spend quality time with her.

Christmas Tree Lane... pictures to come!

Family Pictures

We took these the day after Thanksgiving and I absolutely love, love, love how they all turned out.  My brother-in-law Todd took them and did an awesome job.  We actually took the pictures in front of the utility shed at the park across the street from my parents' house... it was definitely convenient only having to walk about 50 yards outside of the front door.  We have 17 people in our family now and it will just continue to grow!  I love it.

Thanksgiving

** So I obviously didn't finish my Month of Thanks challenge... time got away from me and even though I didn't post on my blog, I was still thankful during the month!  Instead of catching up though I'm just going to move on :) **

I went home to Utah for Thanksgiving November 18-26 and I had such a great time.  It was definitely a much-needed break from work!  I don't have pictures of everything I did (and some are just cell phone pics), but just know lots of time was spent with family and friends and it was a great holiday!

Saturday I met up with some high school friends for a baby shower.  It was good to see them again... some I hadn't seen since graduation!

Saturday night I went with my parents to Abravanel Hall for "The Childhood of Christ" performed by the Utah Symphony.  It was the story of Mary and Joseph journey from Bethlehem into Egypt with baby Jesus.
  The music was in French with English subtitles, and the music was so beautiful.  Tamara Mumford sang the role of Mary... this was fun for us to watch her because she grew up a few streets away from my family (I grew up knowing her as Tammy Castleton).

Sunday was my new nephew Porter's baby blessing.  It's weird that I never even met him until he was a month old.  But he sure is cute!  Here I am with my two great sisters-in-law, Chloe and Emilee:

 

While I was down in Provo, I got to see Lori & Todd's new house being built:

And an amazing sunset:

 

We had fun messing around with the smile detection setting on my camera:

Tuesday I met up with these fun girls:

 Rachel, Kenzie, and Kristina were my first set of roommies clear back from freshman year of college at USU.  We have been pretty good about getting together regularly since then, which is awesome!  Sometimes it's not more than once a year, but it's always so fun to see them (and now some of their kids)!

This is the only picture I have from Thanksgiving day, but it sure is a cute one!  I got Porter this cute little outfit, and my parents also happened to get the matching beanie.  We didn't plan it, but he was all dressed up for the holiday, thanks to us:

My niece Brooklyn (who just turned 5) drew this picture for me and I absolutely love it.  She is so creative that sometimes it just cracks me up:

I asked her to tell me about it.  This is what she said: "We are pioneers.  It's me and Bob.  We love each other and we love Natalie.  And we have little babies too.  Bob is my husband.  We met by going to the bank and eating bananas and we were driving home together.  I put stars and a clock to Natalie and I can draw a '5' and I love Natalie.  It was rainy and sunny and we were there."  I love it!

The day after Thanksgiving we took family pictures, which I absolutely LOVE.  I will put those up separately though because they deserve their own blog post!

Month of Thanks - Day 10

Today I am definitely thankful for days off of work! There is no school tomorrow and this long weekend is a MUCH needed break! As I am writing this post I am sitting in the Bakersfield College gym watching my aunt's basketball team obliterate the opposing team! This time of year is always hard because I get kind of burned out at work... but there is only one more week until Thanksgiving break and I get to see my family in Utah!

Month of Thanks - Days 3-9

Day 3: My job-

I love that I can play games and work with (mostly) cute kids all day long!  When I focus on this and not all the paperwork, I am definitely more thankful for my job. This had me laughing today while playing Who Bingo:

Me: "Who does magic tricks?  A magician."

Student: "Magician?? OHHH.... like magician and subtraction?"

Day 4: Uplifting nights-

I wasn't quite sure how to word this one... but tonight I drove out to Oakland for a devotional.  Elder Richard G. Scott was supposed to speak, but was sick and couldn't make it.  But there were still two great speakers and I got to see the temple lit up at night!

Day 5: Spontaneous weekends-

My aunt Paula texted me Thursday to see if I wanted to meet up with her in San Mateo for the weekend.  I stayed with her basketball team Friday night and spent Saturday watching them play a few scrimmage games at San Mateo college.  It was a fun break from my regular weekend plans!

Day 6: Callings-

Today I was so grateful for my calling in my church.  I didn't think I'd be able to say this, but it's true.  Sometimes we can feel incapable of things we are asked to do, but if we have faith and do them to the best of our abilities, we receive so many blessings!  My calling has been a great way for me to meet a lot of new people and to feel like I belong!

Day 7: Electricity-

Today the power went out at my elementary school for about an hour... and of course just as I was preparing for a meeting and had to print off a bunch of papers.  Whenever the power goes out I realize just how much I rely on electricity to get things accomplished!

Day 8: Goals-

I've been trying to eat better and exercise more in these last few weeks before Thanksgiving.  I've definitely had some bad days, but having short-term goals keeps me in check!

Day 9: Netflix-

As I'm writing this I'm watching episodes of 30 Rock... quite possibly my favorite TV show!  I love Tina Fey and I seriously laugh out loud when I watch this show.  I know it is kind of lame to be thankful for Netflix, but it's awesome for catching up on TV shows when I have some down time.

Month of Thanks - Day 2

Today I am thankful for the opportunity to serve others.  Tonight I was able to go to the Bishops' Storehouse to help order food and other household items for a member of my church.  Back in the day, during one of my high school summers, my dad made me volunteer at a Bishops' Storehouse.  I really did not want to do it, but I dragged my friend Gina along so I could at least have a friend there with me.  I remember that it ended up being a great experience.  Now looking back on it, I'm so glad that I volunteered there 10-ish years ago!  Because of it I was a little more familiar with the process of filling a food order tonight.  It's funny how things come full-circle in life!

Month of Thanks - Day 1

How is it already November again??  Well, since it's here and this is my favorite time of year, I've decided to take on my Month of Thanks challenge again.  Last year was surprisingly hard to think of things as I got toward the end of the month (sad, I know).  This time I am going to put a better effort into it and reflect on each day to find more things I am grateful for... plus pictures if possible!

Today I am thankful for shelter and and sturdy buildings (aka my school).  Today was CRAZY windy at work!  Of course, I didn't check the weather this morning, so I wore a lovely, very flowy skirt... which I think flew up in the wind at least 4 times today.  So needless to say, I was so glad when I wasn't walking students to & from classes and could just stay inside my classroom and out of the wind!

{Ok. Maybe it's not a picture of the shelter I'm thankful for, but here is my skirt that was flying up all day!}

Life on the Farm

Well now that I have lived here in Turlock for almost 3 months I guess I should write about it!  I've had some of these pictures for months now, but just haven't gotten around to putting up on my blog.  Things are so different here than any place I've ever lived, so it's taken a little while to get used to it all.  In my mind, when I think of "California," I think beaches, amusement parks, etc.  But this part of California is basically farms, orchards, barns, and tractors!  Luckily I live in the city (I don't think I could handle living out in the country), but I work in a tiny town out in the farms so I drive through them every day.  At least San Francisco, San Jose, and Monterey are all about 1.5 hours away, so I'm still within distance of some exciting city life :)

Here are some of the everyday sights around where I live:

Lots of trains.  On my drive to work I think I pass over 5 or 6 train tracks.  And it's no fun getting stopped by a train when you are late for work (hence the picture below!):

I say it all the time, but I've literally never seen so many farms in my life.  The main crops (that I can tell) that grow around here are grapes, tomatoes, almonds, and corn.  And LOTS of them!  The good thing is there are lots of fruit stands around with good prices and delicious fresh fruit!

 

When I first moved here I couldn't get over the number of tomato trucks I saw.  Every day on my way to and from work I would usually get stuck behind one loaded full of tomatoes.  Tomato season must be ending because I don't see these quite as much anymore:

The speed limit on the back roads around here is 55 (but of course most people go faster), so getting stuck behind a tractor definitely slows things down!  Also, notice the corn on the sides of the road?  It's pretty much all cut down now, but when I moved here I could not believe ALL of the massive corn stalks!  I would guess they were 10-15 feet tall... much taller than my car.  I kind of felt like I was driving through a huge maze everyday to work!

Now that the corn is cut down, a lot of the fields are growing new crops.  I actually had to pull over and get a picture of this one, because speeding past I couldn't tell what it was.  I was shocked to see COTTON!  I've never seen a cotton plant, and always though of it as growing in the South.  Anyway, this field is in the little town where I work:

Forget-me-not

"You may at times feel a little like the forget-me-not—insignificant, small, or tiny in comparison with others... I hope (the forget-me-not) will be a symbol of the little things that make your lives joyful and sweet."

"Forget not to be patient with yourself.

Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice.

Forget not to be happy now.

Forget not the why of the Gospel.

Forget not that the Lord loves you."

-Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Birthday Weekend

Do I look another year older?


Last weekend was crazy and busy but so fun!

I realized last week that my driver's license was due to expire on September 18, so I thought "no big deal, I'll renew it online."  Problem.  In Utah you can ONLY renew your license in person... no more online or mail renewals... problem is, I am in California.  Then I panicked and realized that if I wanted to fly home for Thanksgiving or Christmas I'd have to have a current ID.  So I decided to fly home for the weekend for this main purpose... and it happened to be my birthday too!

I flew in Friday after work, and straight from the airport I went with Jon & Emilee to see the new movie Contagion.  I didn't love it as much as I hoped I would, but it was good.

The next morning I woke up bright and early to drive up to Logan to cheer my sister Heidi on in the Top of Utah marathon!!  We saw her at about mile 14, and then again three more times before she crossed the finish line.  This was her first marathon and she finished in 4 hours flat!! And she did it in basically horrible weather conditions... downpouring rain, thunder, and hail!  She is amazing.  If you have not ever watched runners come in at the finish line of a race, I highly recommend it!  It was very emotional for me to watch everyone come in... some finished strong, some were literally leaning on others, and some collapsed just before the finish line.  But they all finished this major accomplishment!

My parents also ran the 5k that morning.  I didn't get to see them cross the finish line, but they both did awesome.  They each finished 3rd in their age groups!

On our way home we stopped by the Brigham City temple (still under construction).  Beautiful!

That night we watched the BYU/Utah game, ready to watch the big rivalry game.  Let me just say... MAJOR upset.  BYU played horribly.

Sunday morning we headed up to Kaysville to watch my niece Kaitlyn and my nephew in their primary program.  I always love primary programs, and they both did such a great job.  I loved Michael's line... "I wuv the temple because it's a pwetty pwace."  So cute!

Oh yeah, and Sunday was also my birthday!!  I am now officially 26 years old... although I don't feel much different from 25.  The whole fam came over to my parents' for some Cafe Rio-style pork burritos and red velvet cake.  My brothers' birthday is on the 21st, so this was a combined party for all three of us!  As the night went on, I was just feeling worse and worse, and by the end of the night I had a temperature of 102.7... which is why I am so red in the picture!

We were trying to get a picture of Logan's shirt, but he clearly was not too happy about it.  Here's a better view of the shirt he wore in honor of my birthday!

Monday I got my license renewed, and went to Zupas for lunch with some of my family.  I love that place!!

The trip home was interesting... I honestly believe I have BAD luck when it comes to flying.  Almost every time I have flown, the flight has been delayed or canceled.  This time was no different.  My 4:40 flight was delayed and then eventually canceled and I was rebooked onto the 9:50 flight.  So my dad picked me up for a few hours to have dinner back at home.  By the time I flew into San Francisco and drove home it was 1:45 on Tuesday morning.  I was so glad to have made it back so I could sleep!