Life Lately

On Sunday, we made breakfast for some friends. Their apartment won it at the service auction we had at church...back in November. It was Shaina's birthday so it was the perfect day to do it. One person is gluten-free and another is a vegetarian. That made things a little more difficult when planning what to make, but Pinterest is full of great suggestions. I found these little pancake kabobs and fell in love with the idea. They were extremely easy and delicious! We used gluten-free pancake mix, bananas, strawberries and nutella. Mini pancakes are the cutest! We also made some hash browns and gave them orange juice. 

On Monday, we had an egg themed ward FHE. We were split into two teams and the team with the least amount of cracked eggs won. They didn't announce a definitive winner. We were all winners and got some Easter candy. There was an egg toss, egg roulette, and a relay. The best part was watching people play egg roulette. Some eggs were raw while others were hard boiled and you had to crack it on your head. There were left over eggs at the end and everyone who wanted to do it again did. I took a video. 

Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day. I didn't wear green, but I painted my nails green and gold. Sarah, Brianna and I went to see Disney's new live action Cinderella movie. We had been preparing for this by watching different versions of Cinderella the week before. I thought this remake was very well done and will be adding it to my collection when it's available.

 We wore dresses (sorry you can't tell from the pictures, because we looked awesome) and tiaras to the movie. I wonder how the guy at the box office knew what movie we were there to see :) Sarah always has a hard time finding the camera on my phone whenever we take pictures.

After the movie we went and got drinks at Sonic. Love me some Ocean Water!

Then we went to Smith's so Sarah could buy ingredients to make dinner since she was unable to help get the breakfast ready on Sunday. She made homemade Mac & Cheese with SPAM. So yummy! The cashier loved our tiaras and was very happy to talk about Cinderella. 

Much better Sarah! Took this before she started cooking. Not pictured: The two of us had our own little dance party while dinner was cooking. Brianna was outside reading. The weather has been sooo wonderful lately!

Later in the evening, Sarah and I watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (her choice). I curled her hair since she just recently got it cut and I wanted to play around with it. She returned the favor and played with mine. There is just something magical about someone brushing and playing with your hair. We also gave each other back tickles. 

I also ate a late night bowl of Lucky Charms to celebrate the holiday.

Some other things worth mentioning...

I've gotten better at praying daily and reading my scriptures. With morning prayers, it's still usually an after thought and happens later in the day, but I am praying and that's what matters. I'm much more consistent saying them before bed. I'm slowly getting better at reading my scriptures. Most of the time, I just fall asleep listening to them on my phone because I've been having really bad insomnia and the voice reading them is pretty soothing. My brain just won't stop and I start thinking and stressing about EVERYTHING. My sleep schedule is horrendous right now, but I'm glad to making some progress on these goals.

On Sunday night I had a talk with one of my old roommates and it was good for me because we talked about some spiritual stuff. She is struggling with the basics too. I know a lot of the people around me probably aren't as perfect as I think they are when it comes to daily prayer and scripture study, but they are much better and more consistent than I am so it was nice to find someone on a similar level. 

The spiritual thought given at FHE was on Faith! Again, perfect timing and just what I needed to hear. The thought was based on Ether 12:6-9

Someone on Facebook liked a post by Al Carraway (aka the "Tattooed Mormon"). I clicked on it and then ended up browsing her blog. I've read posts by her before, but I'm not a regular follower. I read this post by her and it fits my life perfectly right now! Not so much the whole marriage part, because I honestly don't think I'm ready for that yet, but to stop stressing and have faith. 

"Those who are single, don't waste your thoughts comparing yourself and defining yourself by what you aren't and by what others are. Don't allow yourself to question "what's wrong with you." Heavenly Father did not shortchange or screw up on you. Don't stress. You just worry about you and worry about God. Because the thing about Heavenly Father is that if we are trying and are patient, we will never be short-changed from the best blessings He has to offer. 

Yeah, sure our future can be uncertain at times, but how exciting that is! How exciting it is to know it's guided by God!

Happiness and unhappiness exists in the same exact place at the same exact time through different people. It's true, life is what you make it. Or it could be what we allow God to make it for us. What will you choose? Choose happiness. And to choose happiness is to choose God. Choose to keep going. Choose to trust. Choose to have faith. To keep your hope. And choose to receive the unexpected, but profoundly greater path with the best blessings. I promise, you'll be alright."

I love how there have been so many things just popping up that I've needed. I know it's not a coincidence. I'm sure this has been the case quite often in my life, I just haven't been in the mind set to notice. His hand really is in all things and prayers are always answered.

To sum up the last few days, life has been pretty great.

The Help

I finished reading The Help and I loved it! It was so good. I became pretty emotionally invested. I think Minny and I would be best friends; I loved her attitude. Aibileen would be an awesome grandma (not that I don't like the ones I've got), Skeeter and I could talk about boys (or lack there of) and writing and I can't tell you how much I'd love to smack Miss Hilly upside the head.

There are a few lines I really liked from the book. The first one is what Mae Mobley is told by Aibileen, her maid. "You is kind, you is smart, you is important." Forget about Jessica's daily affirmations, we could all benefit from constantly telling ourselves that we're kind, smart and important. Yay for boosting self esteem!

The other one I really liked is what Skeeter was told by her first maid Constantine after she had been called ugly by a boy. "Ever morning , until you dead in the ground, you gone have to make this decision. You gone have to ask yourself, Am I gone believe what them fools say about me today?" I love this. I don't have really have a problem with people saying negative things about me since I'm not in grade school anymore, but my sister is still at that stage where teenage girls like to spread rumors and lies about each other. We've talked about some things a girl said about her and her self esteem is high enough to wear she didn't really have problems with ignoring what was said about her. For other people, that's not the case. Even if you do have high self esteem, it can still be hard not to be affected what others say about you. When we come across some negative opinions of us from others, we just need to ask ourselves if we're going to believe what those fools are saying. I don't know about you, but I don't listen to fools. They're called fools for a reason.

Since I've finished the book (which has left me rather sad), I am looking forward to seeing the movie. None of my friends have read the book or seem as interested in seeing it. Hopefully that will change. I'm recommending it and hopefully someone will fall in love with it like I did so we can see it together.

Never Let Me Go

Today I watched a movie called Never Let Me Go. It's based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. It's about these children that are clones (I didn't really pick this up in the movie, I got it from comments about the book) who were created for the sole purpose of having their organs harvested. It follows three friends as they grow up, fall in love and make their "donations". It was really interesting. I really want to read the book now. All the comments and reviews I read said the book is better. The movie features Keira Knightly and Carey Mulligan, whom are both great actresses.

Don't let the R rating put you off. It could have been PG-13, no worse than what you see on t.v.

A lot of people wondered why they never ran away to avoid their impending death. Someone posted a link to a YouTube video of an interview with the author where he answered that question. He said the story was about love and friendship and how those relationships change when mortality is realized and you know you have little time. He didn't want to make it about slaves (that's basically what they are) being brave and escaping. I'm glad I watched the movie first because I can appreciate it instead of disliking it for not being as good as the book. I recommend it and I'll recommend the book too even though I have yet to read it. But from the look of it, no one has had anything negative to say about it. I'll let you know my thoughts when I get around to reading it.

Movie With Roomies

Tonight all of my roommates and two of Arianna's friends went to see Tangled. It was showing at the varsity theater on campus for $1. Great price for a great movie! This was my third time seeing it and it never loses it's appeal. Manju and Kristin were the only ones who hadn't seen it yet and they liked it. My only complaint for the evening was that people laughed too much. They laughed at everything! No joke. When Flynn Rider was on the roof looking over the kingdom, people laughed. How is that funny? It's not. Boo to people that don't know when to stop. There were also some people that would comment loudly for the attention. Lame and grow up is all I have to say. You're in college now.

For anyone that hasn't seen Tangled yet, WATCH IT! You will like it. If you don't, I can't associate with you.

Here are some of my favorite lines:
Mother Gothel- "Look in the mirror. I see a strong, confident, beautiful young lady. Oh look, you're here too. I'm just teasing! Stop taking everything so seriously."

Rapunzel- "Something brought you here Flynn Rider. Call it what you will...Fate...Destiny..."
Flynn- "A horse?"

Flynn- "Frankly I'm too scared to ask about the frog."
Rapunzel- "Chameleon."
Flynn- "Nuance." [I admit this became funny after I looked up the definition of nuance.]

Flynn- "All right, blondie."
Rapunzel- "Rapunzel."
Flynn- "Gesundheit."

Flynn- "You broke my smolder."

Rapunzel- "Hi. Welcome home, Mother."
Mother Gothel- "Oh! Rapunzel. How you manage to do that every single day, it looks absolutely exhausting, darling!"
Rapunzel- "Oh, it's nothing."
Mother Gothel- "Then I don't know why it takes so long."

Mother Gothel- "No no no, can't be. I distinctly remember, your birthday was last year."
Rapunzel- "That's the funny thing about birthdays. They're kind of an annual thing."

Mother Gothel- "Rapunzel, please, stop with the mumbling. You know how I feel about the mumbling. Blah blah blah blah, it's very annoying. I'm just teasing! You're adorable. I love you so much, darling."

Rapunzel (during her mood swings)- "I can't believe I did this. I can't believe I did this! Mother would be so furious. That's OK though, I mean what she doesn't know won't kill her. Oh my gosh. This would kill her. This is so fun! I, am a horrible daughter. I'm going back. I'm never going back! I am a despicable human being. Woo-hoo! Best. Day. Ever! *Sobs*

Flynn- "Does your mother deserve it? No. Will it break her heart and crush her soul? Of course, but you just got to do it."
Rapunzel- "Break her heart?"
Flynn- "In half."
Rapunzel- "Crush her soul?"
Flynn- "Like a grape."

Mother Gothel- "Great. Now I'm the bad guy."

I'll stop before I write the entire movie. I just have to say that I really like Mother Gothel. She's one of my favorite Disney villains because of her personality. Oh, and Pascal is like my new favorite Disney animal sidekick.

How can you not love this guy?

WATCH TANGLED!!!

Crazy Doesn't Even Begin To Cover It

I couldn't come up with a better title. I think this one says it all.

So this week has been EXTREMELY crazy, crazier than the week that I referred to as hell. This week was far worse than that one. We return to the ongoing soap opera that is my life to find that I am apparently capable of committing a felony. Who knew? I certainly didn't. Again, I'm not going to go into details, but I got lucky. Talking to a police officer telling me I could have gotten into serious trouble was one of THE scariest moments of my life. Like almost pee your pants scary. To those of you that aren't family and don't know what I'm talking about, this sounds really bad. But it wasn't. And what I did wasn't either. I just hope I don't have to experience something like that ever again.

Throughout this week I have been exhausted mentally, emotionally and physically. Falling into bed and having my head hit the pillow has NEVER felt so good. I've just been so drained at the end of the day. I've even gotten physically sick from just being overly stressed. I hate how this could easily be resolved except for the fact that the person that has all the power is very selfish and won't do the right thing. I also hate that this person has idiots (no joke) helping them make decisions that are affecting lives of multiple people. It's really frustrating.

Through this week, I noticed that I have really been lacking in the faith department. This situation is definitely more than I can handle on my own and I have failed until the other day to ask for heavenly help. I need to remember that there is someone else that I can turn to for help and comfort and I think that is one reason why I didn't end the day on empty. I wasn't drained mentally and emotionally, nor did I get a headache or physically sick from stress. Today was a good day. Probably the best all week in terms of this whole thing.

This summer has definitely been one of the worst. Bad news just keeps on coming and my stress level has sky rocketed. But all this has brought me to one of my favorite quotes from President Eyring. It was from the YW broadcast a couple years ago.

"It is by faith that you can lay hold upon every good thing. I pray with all my heart that your faith will be increased that you are a daughter of a loving God. I testify to you that you have been one of the valiant ones to reach the point where you now are in this journey of life. Just as you are marked as a target by the enemy of righteousness, you have been protected and watched over by your Heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. They know you. They know all of the forces and individuals around you. They know what is ahead of you. And so They know which of the choices you make, which of the desires you decide to satisfy, and which of the circumstances around you will make the most difference in keeping you walking in the light. I testify that by the Spirit of Christ and by the Holy Ghost, you may walk confidently in whatever difficulties will come. Because you are so valuable, some of your trials may be severe. You need never be discouraged or afraid. The way through difficulties has always been prepared for you, and you will find it if you exercise faith."

I just LOVE that! I always find it comforting and reassuring to know that I'm so "valuable" and that's why my life has consisted of so much crap and drama. It's good to know that I will make it through whatever comes my way.

On to the good stuff. I think it was Wednesday night?... maybe... Tanya was online and watched the trailer for Dinner For Schmucks. She thought it was so good she looked up the movie times (I didn't know this at the time). She told me the movie looked good and that if we hurried we could make the 10:20 p.m. showing. It was ten after. I asked if she was serious and she said yes. So we went with T.J. and Talanoa. It was so funny. I was laughing through most of it and it made me feel better because the day had been awful. Can I just say how much I love Steve Carell? He's hilarious! One of my favorite actors comedy-wise. Some of his stuff can be inappropriate, but he is just so funny. Tanya was laughing so hard she was crying!

Thursday I went boating the Hufanga family. It was so much fun...once we got a new battery for the boat. We got a little bit of a late start, but it was worth the wait. The weather was perfect and tubing was so much fun. Me, T.J. and Talanoa were on the tube at one point and it was a tight fit. It was a lot harder to hang on. On the way home, we stopped at The Cedar Shack in Sweet Home. The food was so good. I had an amazing cheeseburger, curly fries, and a pineapple shake. Delicious!! While we were waiting for our food, I noticed they had a bunch of old yearbooks from Sweet Home High School. Tanya told me one of the women we work with at the office graduated from SHHS. We found her senior yearbook. It was fun to look at. I took pictures with my phone. They didn't turn out that great, but I can't wait to show her at work. It was a good day. One of the highlights of my week.

Today had a rocky start but got better. I got to go school shopping with my sister. Shopping with Alina is a lot of fun. She is just so cute and looks really good in most things. We found this adorable teal sweater that looks amazing on her. I can't wait for it to get cool off enough for her to wear it. We also saw this adorable red jacket at Target and I really want her to get it when she gets the money. It would look so good with a white tee, these perfect jeans we found, and the cute shiny black flats she bought. There was also this pink dress thought I thought would look so good with these boots at Target too. But she didn't like the idea. It would have looked good though, I know it. Maybe that look would work for Sunhee. I want to go shopping with both of them! That would be so much fun and both of them are just so cute and would great in all the cute clothes that are out there. Hopefully I'll get the chance to do that soon.

Well, I'm tired and need to get some sleep. Hopefully tomorrow is a good day and I can end my week on a high note.

Despicable Me

Nana has been watching the kids since Thursday and they're here until Monday evening. I decided I wanted to do something one on one with girls. Today I took Sunhee to see Despicable Me. I would have loved to take Meeja too, but she just cannot sit still. I'm going to do something with her next week.

Sunhee and I stopped at Target to load up on goodies before the movie. I cannot believe how expensive food is at the movies. There's no way I am going to pay what they're asking. While checking out, the lady in fron of us noticed what we were buying and asked if we were going to a movie. Smart lady. Even the cashier said he could tell when people are going to an evening show beacuse of what they purchase.

Despicable Me is such a cute and funny movie. I love Agnes, the youngest girl, and all the minions. Agnes is adorable plain and simple. She looks cute, says the cutest and funniest things, and I just love her. When she first appeared in the movie, Sunhee and I both turned to each other at the same time and said, "She's so cute!" We had to giggle about that. The minions, while you can't understand anything they say, are so funny. The way they laugh makes me laugh. They remind me of Hoops and Yoyo.

It's a really good family movie and I think I might buy it when it comes out. Everyone should watch it.

Oh, in my last post I forgot to mention one more thing I did. I saw Inception with Nana and Tanya. It was mind blowingly good. It really makes you think. Going into it I didn't know anything about it except that it had Leonardo Dicaprio. since I didn't know anything about it, I wasn't sure if I would like it, but I LOVED IT! It's another movie everyone should see.

I'm A Smurf And Other Thoughts

Today I was going to start painting our fence, but it got too hot too soon so I didn't end up doing it. Since I was going to paint, I was wearing my painting shorts. I told Sunhee the pink spots on them were from painting Alina's room in our old house in Beaverton. She said, "They still fit you after that long?" I told her yes because I don't grow anymore and that the only time my height will change is when I'm old and I shrink. Will said, "You'll be a smurf!" I told him he meant dwarf, not smurf. He said, "No, a smurf!" I tried to explain that smurfs weren't real, but he wouldn't hear any of it. I guess I'm destined to be a smurf.

Will is just so cute and says the funniest things. For lunch I made them Ramen noodles and I asked him which flavor he wanted. I asked him if he wanted beef or chicken and he told me he wanted regular. I told, "So, you want chicken." He said, "No, I want regular." I told him regular was chicken because that's what he usually has. He said, "Ok, but no chicken in it." How adorable is that?

Can you believe this weather? CRAZY! It was like 100 degrees today. It has been so hot the last two days and I've got a lovely sunburn to prove it. I remember to buy sunscreen every summer, now I just need to remember to put it on.

Okay, so I have to apologize for not blogging in a few weeks. My bad! Now I have to catch up on things.

The Bachelorette:

I know I said I wanted to see more of Chris N. and I got my wish. Too bad it was train wreck. He was so awkward with Ali. I felt bad for the guy, but he had to go because he obviously wasn't the one. Justin is a JERK! He was the one that had a girlfriend back home. Messing with Ali and her feelings the way he did and taking the spot of someone that could have been great for her was wrong. WHAT A JERK! I'm glad he's gone. I'm glad Kasey is gone too. I didn't like him. He had issues, I didn't like his voice (talking or singing), and all he ever said was that he was there "to guard and protect Ali's heart," which got annoying after about 20 times. Craig R. is gone too. He and Ali didn't have any romantic chemistry. They were just like friends. Next week is hometown week so I can't wait to see how that goes. From the previews for the rest of the season, it looks like Frank is going to do something stupid. I've like him from the beginning so I hope he stays around. I also really like Roberto. I have no idea who Ali is going to choose. I also thought that the interview with Jake and Vienna was a HUGE joke. I knew they weren't going to last.

Last Tuesday night I really wanted to see the midnight showing of Eclipse so I got a small group of friends together (that didn't already have tickets) and we went and saw it. It was so good. The best of the three. One of my favorite parts of the night was the preview for the last Harry Potter Movie. At the end it said it going to be in 3D and the whole theater erupted with outrage. I agree. What is with every new movie coming out in 3D? In my opinion it ruins the movie. The other part I liked was that there was a guy dressed like a vampire. He wasn't that good looking , but he was better than Rob Pattinson. I really don't like him. It was a fun night. Needless to say I was tired the next day and started getting a sore throat.

Wednesday through Friday I was sick with a sore throat and had a 24 hour flu bug or something. It sucked. I was miserable and vomiting does not help a sore throat. Luckily, I have a great family who takes care of me and does my chores while I'm incapacitated. Thank you guys!

Saturday I finally got to see Alina play softball. It only took me like three years to make it to a game. What a terrible sister I am! She is AMAZING! She caught almost every ball that came her way or she made it to the ball fast and was able to throw it to first and get the other team out. She is one of the best girls on the team. I'm so proud of her!

For the 4th of July I didn't really do anything. We had Break the Fast and the theme wa BBQ. I made read velvet cupcakes to be festive and they turned out great. I wish I had taken a picture. I wanted to try and be fancy so I got out Nana's old cake decorating stuff and did a basic swirl with the frosting and added some red sprinkles. They were a hit and I was very pleased. Yay for cupcakes!