4/30/18

Tomorrow we enter the month that I will enter the MTC. I'm trying to get all the online things done that are necessary. Watching all the videos and buying all the necessary things are making it all become more of a real, solid thing that is actually happening. Today I got my official topic for my farewell speech and Adam and I are going to duet "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" as well. Things are tangible now and I am going to have to start packing soon. Holy cow.

4/29/18

Seventeen days until I report to the MTC!!

On another note: I want to take a nap so bad.

4/28/18

Low point of today: I went to Walmart at like 9:30 pm because I wanted ice cream. So I walk out carrying my pint of ice cream that I fully intend to consume in its entirety and I pass like five or six couples all holding hands. It’s a good thing it’s not Valentines Day cause that would make it seem even more sad.

4/27/18

I got to go to the temple with Liz today and I’ve missed my cousin so it was much needed.

I played Uno with those giant cards and it was great. ( Mainly because I won three times in a row. But by the fourth round they were onto me and they all ganged up on me.)

4/26/18

I just watched Avengers: Infinity War with Izzy and Liza and AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH is all I have to say.

4/25/18

I did laundry today so I’m actually feeling pretty accomplished.

4/24/18

Happy 15th Anniversary to my parents! My favorite part about their anniversary is telling people and watching them do the math seeing as I am four years older than however long they’ve been married.

I went to Provo today to pick up my stuff I’d left at the dorm and then Eliza and I went to Panda Express (I got mixed veggies as my side in order to maintain the small shred of healthiness in me. It was so sad though. I desperately wanted chow mein.) Then I dropped my car off at Ken Garff Honda so that they could fix it tomorrow morning. After about 45 minutes of waiting I finally got a shuttle home. Then I proceeded to watch Power Rangers with Adam.

Twas good day!

4/23/18

I’m finally completely finished with my musical! Okay, technically not my  musical. But I did take roll and was at every practice so I feel some level of connection to it. It was honestly amazing though to have it all come together and see all those kids be doing something that made them happy. All their hard work totally paid off and they were phenomenal (as phenomenal as middle schoolers can be in a musical.) Also, kudos to all the mom's who helped out because without them none of it would have come together.

4/22/18

It’s mah birthday! This year was different because it’s the first year I’ve had just family really. It was definitely not as exciting or crazy as my parties usually ended up as. But I had people there that I loved and that I know will always stand by me and cheer me on ❤️

4/21/18

I got to take four of my beehives to the Provo City Center Temple for baptisms and it was such a beautiful feeling seeing all these young girls be filled with the spirit. We got Krispy Kreme after and apparently have officially won all their love and approval.

Tomorrow is my birthday, but this year I don’t have the excited feelings I usually do. I’m a huge fan of birthdays in general. There are so many other bigger things happening in my life right now though and I’m feeling like it’s all overshadowing my birthday. Like we have spent so much money on my mission so it’s not like we can afford to also spend money on a birthday present. I almost even said no to streamers. At this point, a good lot of my friends are at college or on missions right now so even though I have family, my birthday already feels a little lonely.

4/20/18

Today was my last day working at the elementary school. I thought it would feel more liberating but I was actually kind of bummed. I really loved working with those kids (and the teachers too.) I'm going to miss them a lot. In honor of my time at the elementary school, here is a list of all the things I'm gonna miss:

• Danniel applying Captain Underpants to every situation
• Titan's eyes getting big and bright when something clicks in his head
• Hugs from Bella every time she see's me
• Seeing Kaydence and Ashlynn working together because they're best friends
• Strongo making any comment he can to get the class to laugh
• Timmy and his obsession with pineapples
• Brisen demanding that she is my favorite
• Grading tests/assignments and getting them done in record time
• The Copy Room. I don't know why but I like it SO MUCH
• Alex going off on tangents that make no sense just so that he doesn't have to do his work
• Abby showing me pictures of her favorite dogs and telling me all about each breed
• Tyler's opera singing (which was performed on a daily basis)
• Chatting with Rowley and Thacker (who are some of the best teachers I've ever met)
• Learning about things that I'd completely forgotten about (I re-learned so much about our solar system it's ridiculous)
• Caitlyn being very verbal about the fact that I am also her young women's leader (I too was pretty verbal about this because she is adorable)
• Getting to move fifth graders to the next fluency book because they'd improved so much
• Cody and the strange things he would bring me on while I was on recess duty (i.e. a maze he'd made himself that I had to solve, weird black goop, etc.)
• Seeing my sister Megan and her best friend Eva at recess. I'm friends with a lot of first graders now
• The plethora of treats in Thackers class
• Being called Miss. Anna (it's so adorable to hear little third graders say)
• Giving Dev and Abbey a hug every time the walked to and from their trailer classroom while I was on recess duty
• Realizing that these fifth graders are getting a way better education than me, learning things that I didn't learn until ninth grade
• Moving third graders from multiplication to division
• Having a bunch of kids thinking that I'm super duper cool when I'm really just an awkward nerd posing as an adult 
• Having kids think that I'm crazy old and wise because I'm eighteen
• When you explain something a certain way and the light just clicks on and the kid finally gets it
• Helping kids feel confident in their abilities, no matter what level they may be at
• The general insanity of my sixth graders I worked with
• The innate kindness in my sweet third graders
• The almost exhausting curiosity of my fourth graders
• Feeling like I was actually impacting kids lives for the better

Things I will not be missing:

• Having to be at the school by 8 am every day
• Cleaning lunch tables
• Seeing the bits of food at the bottom of the rag buckets I used to wipe the tables
• The "rotten egg mixed with vinegar" smell of the lunchroom cleaning products
• Recess duty in the freezing cold
• Only having thirty minutes to drive home and back for my lunch break
• Did I already say cleaning lunch tables?

4/19/18

Today was Adam’s first official performance and he did so so good and I am just so beyond proud of him ahhhhhhh!!!

4/18/18

Felt like crap for most of this day. I did make it to our combined Deacon/Beehive activity though and got to eat a s’more (and consequentially be covered in marshamallow). Plus a bunch of girls left their phones on camping chairs while they did an activity, so I obviously took a picture of myself on each of them!

4/17/18

I ended up going with my mom to her self reliance class that deals with budgeting. Let me tell you, I am not a good budgeter. I like Chick Fil A and watching movies in theatres too much. I did however discover that I will respond to "Mini Rebecca."

4/16/18

1) Today was crazy windy and I saw probably over fifty tumbleweeds just driving home from Mi Ranchito with my mom.

2) I had to get two immunizations today but the lady giving them to me was training a new person so she was explaining the whole thing as she went through it which made it take TEN TIME LONGER. Like she just stabbed me with a needle and held it there while answering the new chicks question. And then she had the nerve to terribly apply my band aid. It got all crumpled in on itself on one side. She didn’t even offer to try and fix it. She just looked at me like I was the crazy one.

4/15/18

Today was actually full of stories for me to tell. To fully appreciate the first one though, I have to give a little backstory.

It was senior year of high school. I was in a writing class based around Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Also in that class, a guy named Schuyler. (Aat least that’s how it’s spelled on his Instagram page, it’s pronounced like Skyler) I didn't know  him, I pretty much just knew of  him. I had to work on a project with him once but the basis of my knowledge about him was that he seemed hardcore hipster but like he wasn’t even trying to be -which if you ask me makes him even more hardcore hipster. Anyway, one night I had this dream that he was in and we had to work together to save this kid name Jake (who I also only know of but don’t actually know) and in part of the dream we ended up making out while we were hiding out in a bathroom. Which is super gross, but I thought the whole thing was hilarious so I made the mistake of telling people and I can never live it down now.

That all being said, it was Matt’s mission farewell today and I go in to sit by Em. Well I sit down and my friend Katie gestures to the guy in front of me while her eyebrows are raised all mischievous like and lo and behold, there is Schuyler. Both her and Em were on the verge of bursting with laughter. I almost was too because of course this is going to happen to me. Luckily no eye contact or conversation insued and I was able to escape.

After mine and Em’s fantastic escape, we went to the luncheon thing for Matt and got to talk to a bunch of people and eat food and have some general fun. As we were about to drive away Spence thought it would be hilarious to pull back my car mirrors and pop up my windshield wipers. But then Matt comes running over and I’m thinking he’s gonna fix the wipers for me but he actually opens my door and pulls on the little lever thing that pops open my hood. I have lost all trust for them now. (Granted, there wasn’t much left.)

We ended up hanging at Matt’s house later where we basically sat in chairs outside and watched a bunch of dogs run around (at least that’s what Em and I did.) But we couldn’t stay too long because at 7:00 there was a YSA social at the Catmul’s which I dragged Emily to. It was actually way fun though. I found out that I’m actually semi okay at ping pong and then we all played “Around The World” (which I was less than semi okay at.) Afterwards we played this game called “Catchphrase” which is essentially electronic charades but you can talk. It’s on a timer though, so you have two teams play against each other and whichever team is holding the device when the timer goes off loses and their other team gets a point. Turns out I’m actually pretty good at it, and Carla and I make a great team!

Then we went to Spencer’s house for like thirty minutes because everybody from Matt’s house earlier migrated to Spence’s basement for some solid movie watching. There was only like thirty minutes left of the movie ‘Masterminds’ by the time we got there but it was still fun.

Most importantly though: I finally got to eat some cheesecake.

4/14/18

Slightly disappointing day because I couldn’t eat the cheesecake I wanted to. Apparently it had to thaw first. Ridiculous if you ask me.

4/13/18

Today I got endowed and that’s the only thing that happened today that was so beyond amazing enough to comment on.

4/12/18

The weirdest thing happened today. I was starting my time slot with the third graders when my stomach decided to feel as if it was being sawed in half. I was in a lot of pain but I pushed through till my lunch break. Once I got home I just spread out on the floor to try and stop the pain. I took some Advil and called in to let them know I wouldn’t be able to come back in the rest of the day. I’ve felt better since then (which could relate to the fact that I took a nap) and now I feel all guilty that I didn’t just finish up the rest of my work day at the elementary.

Adam and I watched Star Trek tonight and he assumed I knew nothing about any of it but I totally proved him wrong and it was awesome.

4/11/18

We are officially half way through my 22-day birthday countdown! Soon I will be a nineteen year old and how strange it seems to be nearly nineteen and have multiple friends turning twenty. For some reason twenty seems incredibly daunting. It’s a whole new decade of life and you can tell people you’re in your twenties and I dunno why but that seems like a big step.

Today I brought the toys that I bought to work. They’re essentially a huge rubber ball but instead of being bouncy they’re filled with this thick foam stuff and they help with concentration. We used to have a bunch because Alicia would use them (and consequently break them) all the time. So today Danniel tried using it and it worked out so good! And the teacher, Rowley, loved them! They are definitely less messy than silly putty, that’s for sure.

Last thing: I had a crazy night, I had two interviews in a row in order to get my temple recommend for my endowment. I nearly cried in the interviews (which is a pretty big deal, I’m not too big of a crier) because I’m excited beyond words to have this opportunity and grow closer to my Heavenly Father and to Christ. Once I got back from those, we held a cupcake decorating based Beehive activity and I’m gonna miss these girls so much. They’re incredible and amazing and I love witnessing their growth. Also, they make some dang cute cupcakes!

4/10/18

I went back to work today, but Vista is doing full run throughs this week so I was on my feet pretty much all day and basically I can’t feel them anymore.

4/9/18

Mom and I spent a good portion of today scrambling to get as many mission things done as possible. Good news: we found some more light church jackets (I have to wear a jacket to all the meetings) and we found some good shoes that I actually love a lot and should work for my mission. We got my immunization records and set up an appointment for the two immunizations that I still need. We also got my appointments with the Bishop and Stake President to get a full temple recommend because we  actually already have my endowment scheduled for Friday!

4/8/18

Today I ate way too much curry but it was worth it.

Emily got back from her Vegas trip and she had gotten me this absolutely gorgeous gold necklace that says “called to serve” and I wanna wear it all the time now.

I made chocolate cupcakes with a green buttercream frosting for Adam to take to Damon cause his arm is broken and whatnot (which is partially Adams fault so hopefully the cupcakes make up for that just a little bit.)

We watched Zathura together (us siblings, the parents ditched us) and it was so beautiful because we actually all agreed on the movie to watch, which never happens. I nearly cried it was such a miracle.

4/7/18

I spent all day with my family and it made me start to fully realize how much I’m gonna miss out on while on my mission. All the little things are gonna add up and by the time I get back it’s entirely plausible that my little sisters will be as tall or taller than me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still beyond pumped to serve a mission, but it’s weird to think about me leaving behind my siblings that are gonna grow and learn. Abbey will be in middle school, Adam in high school and taking drivers ed. Megan will get baptized and I’m sure Rachel will only get sassier. It’s a bittersweet kind of feeling.

4/6/18

I had agreed to watch the Crumps dog Buddy over the weekend while they were in Idaho. So yesterday I go to their house and Spencer isn’t there so his sister walked me through everything I would need to know. So today I head over at 2:00 pm to feed their dog and let him run around and whatnot. But then I walk in and they’re all still home and turns out their dad isn’t going anymore because his knees didn’t feel the need to not be painful. So turns out I’m not hanging out with a dog this weekend.

4/5/18

Okay??? Like, how is Tom Ellis so attractive??? Mmm yeah. His eyes, his accent, his abs, his ability to pull off both facial hair and lack thereof. Not to mention he can sing! Truly amazing.

4/4/18

Man oh man have I missed my memory foam pillow!

Now that I’m back I can really start focusing on preparing for my mission and it’s so exciting! There’s a lot of things I need to get considering that Arizona is crazy hot. Good news: I’ll get a cool bike and a Camelback because they’re required :)

4/3/18

I got to go to the Boston Massachusetts temple today! All the workers were so nice. (What else would you expect in a temple though?) Turns out they don't have many youth come through to do baptisms so I had to wait a while for them to gather enough workers to do the ordinances. They didn't have much time before the next endowment session though so as soon as I walked out of the font they covered me in multiple towels and had me sit on a chair and confirmed me right then and there. The whole thing was really peaceful though. It was nice to escape the world full of swearing and whatnot. I desperately needed this temple trip. (Sadly it was raining so I didn't get too many pictures nor could I get a cool polaroid.)

4/2/18

Today I had one of those moments where you say “You too!” when it’s actually entirely inapplicable to the person you were talking to and it’s haunting me.

I also bought ice cream today. Best decision ever.

Aside from the ice cream, I bought Hello Panda and Pocky sticks for my flight back and I might cry I am so excited to eat them.

4/1/18

Okay so my official plan is to post all my favorite pictures and share all my favorite stories about this trip when I get back because that seems easier. And then I can better sum it all up.

*Update from a later me: this does not happen, for I am lazy and figure that the daily posts shall be enough.*

Good news though: it's finally April! This means the 22 day countdown to my turning nineteen, and it also means I have a month and a half before I am walking into the MTC. Which is insane to think about. And don't mention it to my mom because she is already stressing about all the things we have to get done. And now I sort of am too. But I'm also really excited to have all these things to do, ya know?