Quote the Quip

"Sometimes in life we become so focused on the finish line

that we fail to find joy in the journey."

 

 

Well said Pres. Uchtdorf.  Courtesy of his talk "Of Regrets and Resolutions" from the October 2012 general conference.

 

Or how about this golden nugget from the same talk:

 

"I pray that we will not wait until we are ready to die

before we truly learn to live."

 

Also, I learned a new word today!  QUIP.  [1- a clever or witty remark or comment. 2- a sharp, sarcastic remark; a cutting jest. 3- a quibble. 4- an odd or fantastic action or thing.]

 

This little lovely scored me 27 points in Words with Friends.  Booyah!   Then I looked it up to see what the heck it meant.  Honestly I had confused it with the word quiver (the thing you hold arrows in... right?), but I was just excited to be using a Q on a DL tile.  Not the greatest point value, but not too bad when you consider the amount of life points I get from learning a new word!

 

P.S. Look back at the definition of this word.  I think quip will become a statement word in my vocabulary.  "Oh that was so quip!"  Yeah.  Not bad, not bad at all.  Or maybe I'll just consider myself a quip.  According to the definition, I just might be the cookie straight from this cutter.  ....see #4.

 

That is all. Have a good weekend :)

Oh What a Wonderful Weeekenddd!!

I'm still hurting from this weekend, but man it was a good one!  Friday night PK, J-bird, Jessica Rabbit (inside joke... sorry mom) and I went to dinner then hit the Quarry for some weekend climbing!  I was a little wary when Parker said he wanted to go rock climbing, because the only memories that have ever stuck with me about this activity is PAIN.  The next day I always have a hard time holding on to anything because my weak arm muscles have been destroyed.  However, Parker was dead set on the idea so we went!

Look kids! Spiderman!

Look who we bumped into! What's up Levi!

Almost over the ledge!

Domination.

 

 

Notice how the majority of the pictures are of Parker..... that should give you a good clue as to who had the most endurance.  Me... duh.  Belaying is hard work people! ;)  Well despite being extremely tired afterwards, I did have a lot of fun!  I might even do it again!  I think that this is something that if you did it often enough, you'd have a killer body in no time. 

 

Saturday morning my family and my cousins next door all helped my grandparents out by winterizing their front and back yards.  We filled two trailers full of weeds and dead things!  It was a lot of work, and it did quite a number on my already sore hands, arms and shoulders, but in the end it looked sooo good!  Grandpa was still out there helping where he could, but I'm glad we could do this for him. He's 91 for crying out loud, the guy deserves a break!

 

Sunday brought church with Holli (it only took us 3 tries and a lot of wandering to find a singles ward in Provo), lounging around to rest our poor muscles and a history making tournament of Yahtzee!  In 2 games, we totaled 10 Yahtzees between all of us!  What the?!  The first game no one got a Yahtzee, and by the end dad had 3 Yahtzees in one game! Wow, it was so crazy and so much fun.  Every single time someone would get a Yahtzee we would throw our hands up in the air screaming while the lucky man/woman would dance around the table.  And, would you guess that my Yahztee was with all 4's?  That's right, I'm kind of a big deal. :)

 

 

Daybreak

Guess where I was able to go yesterday?! 

Oquirrh Mountain LDS Temple

This was my first trip to South Jordan and can I just say I was more than impressed.   The Oquirrh Mountain temple always scared me with it's odd name.  Is that terrible of me to say? It's terrible huh? Face into palm. Usually I don't trust things I can't spell.  So I practiced the spelling a few times, got down the pronunciation and I was good to go! :)  First off, this temple is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!  I don't know if you're supposed to pick favorites, but my mom said it was okay, so it's settled, this is my new favorite.  It's on top of a hill, right in Daybreak and is just so aesthetically appealing.  Secondly, Daybreak..... WOW.  I had heard that it was quite fantastic, but no one prepared me for how adorable every single house was.  They were still pretty good sized houses for being so close together, and the whole neighborhood was immaculately clean - decorated in the style I currently can only Pin about.   Seeing all those cute houses made me want my own so badly!  I have to admit, I've been looking at them all morning.  Yeah.... looks like I'll just have to keep pinning my Daybreak house dreams for awhile. :)

I am so grateful that I was able to go to the temple yesterday.  I can't even describe the overwhelming peace, happiness and spirit that I felt the instant I walked through those doors.   I need that peace in my busy life, and I need it more consistently.   I've made an October resolution, that I will go to the temple every Thursday to do Baptisms.  We'll see how it turns out, but I'm really excited to give it a try! 

Here's to a good weekend - and a happy birthday Mr. Mitchell!

4.4

What's up best day of the year?!  Today, is the infamous 4/4 day - can't you just feel it's magnificence?! I certainly can.  Only once a year does April 4th come around, and it's always a treat.  Last year I didn't do many exciting things on 4/4 day, but this year is going to be different!  So far, my plans are to [1] get all dressed up  to start off the day with good vibes (look good play good), [2] leave work early (maybe at 4:00?), [3]play in a basketball game and then [4] color/decorate Easter eggs with K&J squared!

"Does life get any better? I submit that it cannot." 

A little Brian Regan for ya

TMI

For all of you that skipped 6th grade (or have chosen to move past it... still working on it myself, nbd.)

TMI = Too Much Information. 

TMI is what I get more often than not when taking phone calls. Example? 

Well this morning I was speaking with a woman who was trying to schedule a deposition. All was fine and dandy until she added,

"Oh and if I don't answer, please do leave a message, I've REALLY gotta jump in the shower and start to get ready for the day." 

Uh Great. 

Now I'm imagining this lady in her pink footy pajamas, hair all matted and greasy, no make-up on and sleepies in her eyes.  ....Wait! I want the image of her sitting behind a desk, fresh from her morning perfume, wearing dress pants, a fitted suit coat and red heels back. 

Also, how do you respond back to that? 

"Eww gross lady, don't you have the courtesy to clean yourself up before you start making business calls??" 

Probably not the most appropriate. 

So I went with, "ha well great, ...pause... uh wow yeah I'll just have them leave a message.  Thanks."  The awkward approach, always a winner right?  This may not be that bad to offer up information on where you are at on your morning routine, but it certainly took me by surprise.  

Remember how every adult you have encountered during your teen years would tell you,

"You better be careful of (Choose one: Texting, MSN, My Space, Facebook, Internet) because people are more comfortable with that barrier and will say things they would never say in person." 

-or-

"These contraptions are desensitizing people and allowing them to be bold without facing the immediate consequences." 

Well this is all true to some extent, but very true when it comes to giving out personal information.  On multiple occasions people have opened up to me over the phone and shared a few of the following:

1] how their husband is abusive;

2] how they hate living with their in laws because their body odor is atrocious;

3] that their family traces back to ye olde times to when they were extremely rich until some peasant stole their money and now each generation has had to suffer in poverty;

4] or that their intimate life has been extremely interrupted and here is how: (censored for good reason). 

Wow wow wow wow wow.  WAY TMI!  Usually I'll get these explanations when I'm asking for the doctor's name or even what the date of the accident was... so of course I guess I can't complain because those responses are perfectly normal to these questions right?

It just proves that all we need is someone to listen to us jabber on about whatever we need to get out.  Very similar to what I'm doing now to you....?   As human beings we need to communicate.  Fortunately, I'm just here to listen and provide uh huh's and aaahh I see's when necessary.  So if you'd like my self help hot line, go ahead and dial 4's until you can't dial anymore.  I can happily provide an attentive silence which will give you more than enough room to spill your guts on. 

P.S. Sarcasm was sprinkled heavily throughout this post with absoluetly no intention to offend. Any personal information referrenced or given has been fabricated but stemmed from real life events.  

"They're Worth So Much More After I'm a Goner"

Happy Friday!!  Now after being utterly inspired a moment ago, go on and have a fantastic weekend.  Do it, I dare you! 

P.S. 4 points to whoever can name song and artist of the title of this post.  It'll be a hard 4 points because it's not like it hasn't been played a bajillion times in the past few months.  nbd. Even still, I still like it - in a morbid sort of way :)

Champions

Well... I'm here to report good news!!  Introducing......

Red Devils - SF Women's League Champions 2011

We did it!!   Not only did we pull of the big 'W,'  we did it in style, 8-2 style!  This team was comprised of most of our high school soccer team members just re-living the glory days.  It felt so good to be able to play with 'my team' again.  We still had the same connection we did in high school, even after 3 years of all being apart.   Sad thing is that this is probably the last time we will all get to play together.  Something bogus about school being a higher priority.... weird.  ;) So, after 3 years, where are all of us at and where are we going?  I'll start left top and work my way to the right bottom.

RAE:  Just dominated Hodgkin's lymphoma cancer and has recovered so well!!  If she's not considered a fighter I don't know who is.

KAYLIE:  Has been married to Bryce for about a year now (most adorable married couple I've ever seen) and works as a dental assistant!

KAYLYN:  Just finished her 1st year of the Nursing program at BYU and is officially 33% of a nurse.  She'll be saving lives in no time, nbd.

BRANDI:  This girl is bound to put a smile on your face within the first 30 seconds of meeting here, guaranteed.  Home for the summer, but soon will be returning to living the dream in the SUU scene. 

ME:  Paralegal of 2 years and graduating with Paralegal Degree from UVU after this fall semester! Oh, and recently won the award for most "Dominating" person of 2011. ;) 

KATIE:  Happily married to her Dave and quickly approaching their 1 year anniversary!  She's a high rollin' nurse for a home, health and hospice agency, and a dang good one at that!

KARLIE: Finished school (yay!) and looking to teach teens all about eating disorders, nutrition, diseases and other heath matters.  Mrs. Mitchell is tearin' up the marriage scene with her hubby Jake of 1 year!

ANISA:  Taking over Idaho in one fell swoop.  Just finished her first year of Pharmacy School at ISU and soon will be treating all your prescription needs with that pretty smile!

BETSY:  Just turned in her papers to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!! With her easy going personality and beautiful face how could anyone turn down her invitation to get a little wet?!

And that my friends is what I call a great group of girls. We weren't able to get everyone together for the team, but I'm so glad we were able to get this bunch together.  These ladies will always hold a special spot in my heart, and I wish the best of luck to each of them as they conquer life with such great style.  Who knows how I got so lucky, but nevertheless, I'm grateful.

Champions inside and out.

Insert Rocky Theme Music Here

Today is the day that our soccer team rises above the competition and sets the stage for our championship trophy.  Finals start today against our arch nemesis Orange Crush at 9:00 pm.  Am I nervous?  Well... does a navy seal get nervous when faced with a plastic kiddie pool? I think not, and thus it is, I am not nervous.  For I know we are well equipt with the skills to DOMINATE! Currently we are tied with Orange Crush for 1st place and so the battle will be fierce.  We have potentially 3 games in the next two days to prove our worthiness

-good thing we went to the temple yesterday ;) -

but hopefully we can put the trophy in the bag after the first two games.  Orange Crush is a good team and always gives us a good game, but they won't be ready for our phenomenal trick plays and deep bonds of friendship.  We will be victorious!

Okay, okay I've stepped from my drama platform to normal ground now.  Sorry, once that ball gets rolling I have a hard time aborting. Courtesy of Papa Francis :)   I really am so excited / nervous for our game tonight!  I know we can pull out a win but it'll be challenge that's for sure.  I wouldn't want it any other way.  It's amazing how intense and determined I can be when the end reward is a soccer t shirt. nbd it's just a t shirt you say?  Wrong, that t shirt will have one word on it that will bring short term bragging rights. 

CHAMPIONS.

Landlocked

I can't wait until our San Diego trip... hello beach! Only 3 weeks!  Shizuka!

New word I just discovered.... any takers?

Just me, okay great, I'll add it to my list of words that annoy Kaylyn. :)

Oh and p.s. it's friday.... have another comic :)

 (or 4 more....)

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IKEA!!!!

What a weekend! Saturday Kaylyn and I went to one of my favorite places in the entire world....

If you've never been, go. Now. Or tomorrow.

We ate food at the little restaurant (more like cafeteria) while watching people filter in and out. I don't know why people watching is so captivating, but for some reason I can't get enough of it. Also while eating we noticed a kids play area down below. Our discussion started with, "Oh that's so nice to be able to have some place to put your kids while you shop throughout this huge store!" and ended with, "I would NEVER leave my kid in one of those places!" Quite the change I know, but once we watched the whole "check-in" procedure it made me think twice. It went a little something like this:

1] Bring child to check-in counter

2] Fill out a waiver (undoubtedly releasing IKEA from any liability if their child loses a finger, gets rabies or needs stitches)

3] Receive a bin for the child's shoes, socks and jackets

4] Receive a sticker with a number that corresponds with the aforementioned waiver

5] Place said sticker on child's back

6] Receive a blinky disk that vibrates when your child has encountered one of the previous conditions

7] Open the big check-in counter and release your child into the unknown

Sounds pretty great eh? I understand that this is probably a lot like daycare, but it still makes me nervous. You don't know these people, and for all we know some 14 year old could be practicing voodoo on my child. Maybe we were over-exaggerating, but Kaylyn and I came to the conclusion that we wouldn't bring our kids to IKEA if it meant we had to lock them in the child prison.

After eating we started to wander in and out of bathrooms, bedrooms and kitchens. We played house and tested out a few appliances. (surprisingly all of them weren't working.... weird) We tested the chairs for support and overall comfy-ness and marveled at the luxurious kitchen set ups. We both decided a big kitchen is a must in our future houses.

Isn't she the cutest??

We continued on our adventure, until we met this.

What is it? Who even knows. What was my first reaction? To grab a newspaper and pop a squat. Gross? Definitely. I have reason to instantly think this cabinet thing is made for such activities because we found it in the bathroom decor section. If you ask me, this seems quite odd.... but hey it's modern so it's okay right? Not okay.

Question: What is modern? I believe it to be the new, slightly odd but radiating cool-ness that only the artsy people can pull off. However, haven't we had this "modern" stuff around for at least 10 years now? Does the "modern" style ever change? If not, can it still be considered "modern?" Obviously I don't understand decorating, but this subject really baffles me. Hey, let's make a table that looks like a banana, surround it with chairs that are too small for anyone over the age of 4, paint it a metallicy color and call it modern. Huzzah!

Joking aside, I liked looking at all the modern stuff, I just don't quite understand it yet. Maybe when I get a few more wrinkles I'll start to figure it out. Until then.... Huzzah to those that love the modern marvels!

Happy 4 day!!

Today is a day that is better than almost any day. Today is 4 day. April 4th (4/4) is my favorite day because we get two 4's instead of one this month! I can't wait until I'm 44 in year 2044 on April 4th. Oh yeah, it's going to happen. Not really, but it would have been awesome. Maybe I'll lie about my age on that day. Who knows if blogs will even exist, but if they do, you better believe there will be a blogtastic post that day. I already missed 4:44 am (barely) and so I'm really looking forward to 4:44 pm... and trying to come up with 4 awesome things I can do at that time. Any ideas? There is really no other reason for this post besides the fact that I haven't posted in awhile, and to make you all aware of the greatest day ever! At 4:44 pm today, I hope you take a second and do 4 crazy cool things. So far, all I've got is 1) give a high four to a stranger 2) celebrate with 4 friends 3) sign up for a soccer league as #4 and 4) wear a 4 pendant that I made out of a paperclip around for the rest of the day. Obviously I'm needing a bit of help in the creativity area today.

HAPPY 4 DAY!!!!!!!!!

Look Who's Legit!

Today has been a wonderful day, and I will tell you why it has been so wonderful. I just received my very own set of personalized business cards!! They are so beautiful and professional! I've provided you with a picture so that you too can enjoy the greatness of my now legitimate career.

You really thought I would post my information on the internet?!?! Got ya. :) Well this is a picture of the back of my business card thus proof that it has normal dimensions of a business card, and therefore is a legitimate business card. I'll let your imagination do the rest. I'm excited to be able to hand them out and say, "Here's my card, call me anytime if you have any questions or concerns." Wow I sound more professional already.

Second item of legit -ness is that I finally bought a gym pass today!! Wahoo!! I've always figured that I would keep active and in shape by doing sports or other activities and that I would never need a boring old gym pass. HOWEVER, I've always secretly wanted a gym pass. I can't wait to join in with the other sweaty people, participate in some intense exercise classes, and to acheive my goal of being fantastically fit! You can probably expect to see a few more posts with the phrase, "Oh yeah, I just got back from the gym." and know that my coolness level just increased by 4. DOMINATION! Now I've got to go find a cute gym outfit and buy some more make up.... ;)

Surgery = DOMINATION!!

Alright, so it's day 4 since my surgery on Thursday! I haven't fallen asleep in the past 5 minutes, so I figure this is a good opportunity to make a post while I have the chance. :) So here's how it's been going!

Surgery: Surgery went really well! I think it was a good thing that I only got about 3 and a half hours of sleep, because I was too tired to be nervous or stressed out about the surgery. Genius. I was brought in, changed into the gown, super ugly brown socks with grippy stuff on the bottom, and a hair cap thing. Basically, I looked like a rockstar. We waited for the doctor and anesthesiologist to show up. Dave (Anesthesiologist) talked to us, then wheeled me into the operation room. I was very curious, so I did ask him one question: "So if I happen to wake up in the middle of surgery, what happens?" He made a few jokes and said that would never happen. With my only worry put to rest, he put me on the operation table, had me put my arms out, said he was going to start with....... and that is all I remember. I didn't even get to count to 10 and only make it to 4 or anything! I was gone. Drugs mix well with my body I guess. He definitely did his job. The first thing I remember after, was that I was extremely cold when I woke up. My mom said I had a million blankets on me already and I was shaking like a leaf. After I warmed up, I was just out of it. I was super tired, and apparently kept asking the same questions over and over again. Other than that I wasn't too crazy... sorry! I was hoping to be able to share some weird story. My parents said they talked to Dr. Wallentine after surgery and he said he used 4 strands of my hamstring, bent my knee back and forth to get it in there as tight as possible. Good work! :) I went home, and slept!

Day 1: Not much of an appetite at all. I had a graham cracker every 4 hours when I was suppose to take a pain pill, but that was about it. I didn't really get nautious, but got very light headed if I ever had to get up to go to the bathroom. Today I fainted on my mom. I was coming back from the bathroom and my ears started to get all fuzzy, I got the cold sweats, and I couldn't see anything. I said, Mom, I think I might faint, and I was gone. My mom ran over, tried to hold me up for a while, but then slowly slid me down to the floor. I sat there for awhile, until it passed. I am not a big fan of that feeling at all. So that was fun... I had my first day of Physical Therapy today. I was really stiff, but able to lift it up on my own which was good! By the end though, I was falling asleep as we were setting up my next appointment. The rest of the day I slept for the most part. Karlie and Jake came over and baby sat me for awhile though! They brought Zupas and we also had Zubs sticks and cheese sticks.. soo good! We watched the Big Bang Theory all night long. :) They are so great!

Day 2: Dad took me to PT this morning at 7:30am! I love that Karlie gets to help me with PT every time I go! It makes it so much more enjoyable! I didn't do as well today, but still not bad, getting there! I came home, slept, and then Katie, Karlie and Jake came over to visit me after their soccer game! We watched the Big Bang Theory, and I was able to stay awake for most of it! They left, I slept, watched a movie with my parents, and then slept some more. That night, Parker was on a camp out, and Jordan was working, so it was just my mom, dad and myself! We had an awesome dinner, and then played Skip-Bo and Yahtzee! After that, I went to bed. haha

Day 3: Mom was nice enough to sacrifice not going to church for staying home and taking care of me. While everyone was at church, mom and I watched Enchanted and just hung out. We made Paninis which were absolutely amazing! They tasted professional! (That honey mustard sauce makes all the difference!) Dad came home to 'check on me' and we all just sat around and talked. I slept a lot again. Mom took a nap and then Dad, Parker and I were trying to find a movie to watch. After a good 15 minutes of deciding, Dad was nice to me and let me pick. So I chose Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs, one of my new favorites! My family didn't like it very much, but I was convinced that if they saw it again they would love it like I do! Well.... 5 minutes into the movie I was asleep..... oops.... Later I painted my fingernails and we watched the Jazz allow the Lakers to beat them in Game 1. More sleeping!

Day 4: Physical Therapy has now become the main event of my day.... haha Sad, but it's true. today I did really well though, I got all the way around, a full rotation on the bike, everytime around for 12 minutes!! I even got to learn a new exercise today! Ed stretched me out today and I was able to bend to 120 degrees! That was huge!! So I'm really proud of that!! I've been trying really hard to work hard on this! So we'll see! Today I got to shower!! Which was hard... but definitely needed. :) Now I'm going up to my apartment to try and move some of my stuff home. We are trying to sell our apartment right now since Karlie is getting married, and I think we might have a buyer! So I gotta get my crap out, which sucks because I can't help. My family has been so great throughout this whole thing. I owe them big time!! I hope that every one has a wonderful day today! I'm starting to fall asleep, so I gotta end this. Night! :)

I'm on the road to recovery! DOMINATION!!

I'll Let You In On A Little Secret...

Alright, the month of which we currently reside in is called the month of April. "Interesting," you say, "tell me more about this month of April." I will have you know, that April is the best month of the WHOLE ENTIRE year! Was that a little redundant? April showers bring May flowers, and who doesn't love that?! I personally love the April showers of SNOW that we are currently getting, but I wonder when I will get to use my cute polka dotted rain boots for some serious puddle jumping... Another topic for another day.

April has Easter, General Conference, my friend Zachary Benjamin Knowlton's birthday, the Owl City Concert, my ACL surgery and Finals!! Yay!! In addition to all this awesome stuff jam packed into one month, April is in fact the 4th month of the year... DOMINATION! Every time I write the date I get to see my favorite number. Not to mention on every letter I get, every grocery store receipt, every assignment I hand in, and every time I run my mouse over the time in the bottom right hand corner of my computer appears the glorious #4! How can this not put a smile on your face? It does to mine. I had a private celebration on Sunday because it was 4/4, the best day of the year. That day is special to me, and I think one year I'll get married on that day. Yes... I am that stubborn that it will probably happen too. Well, I'll leave it at that. The fantabulous month of April is among us, so don't waste it! Happy 4 month!