6 Month Update

So - true to form - it has been over 6 months since my last blog.  I consider this a product of my rather boring, unexciting life.  I really haven't done that much worth blogging over, work - eat - shower - sleep.  Repeat.  Almost every day of every week.  The rest of my time is consumed with responsibilities for Relief Society, doing visits to our sisters, organizing visiting teaching (a task that is more never-ending than doing laundry) and also indexing.  Our stake has challenged us to index 1 million names this year, that's a lot of names!!  But we are surely and steadily plugging away.  A little behind right now perhaps, but there's still 3 months left :)

Drill Team was so much fun this year!! I got to compete with the team at Districts and at State...I loved every minute of it!!  I won't post a full video of our routine because I don't have a great copy, but here are some pictures from both the games and the drill.

 I promise I am riding in this picture...A little bit like 'Where's Waldo'.  If you're having trouble finding me, try looking between the 2 horses on the far left.  See that little white leg sticking out of the brown horse's belly? Yup, that's me :)

 Yee-haw! 

 10-bucket race, we finished first in this leg of the race!

 

The Rescue Race 

At districts I competed in the Clover leaf (barrel race) the 10-buckets, potato race, and rescue race.  By far my favorite was the 10-buckets and the rescue race.  My horse loves to do the 10-buckets, and we totally rocked it!  The rescue race was a hoot, but I thought I was gonna die!! It works like a relay race, so one person rides to the other end of the arena, gets off the horse, picks up a passenger, both get on the horse race across the finish line.  There are 3 pairs that do this.  I was the last passenger to get picked up, and was nearly falling off the whole way!! Such a rush! haha

Now, I know that there's only about 3 people who read this blog...namely my mother and two sisters.  And they already know all about this next part...but I'm putting it in anyway because I like to feel like I'm talking to people that I don't already talk to on a daily basis.  :)  

I am so excited to embark on my latest (and probably greatest) adventure of my LIFE!!  As I was going over some things today, and starting to 'dot my i's' and 'cross a few t's' - it really hit me....I am going to the Cook Islands in less than 6 weeks!!  A little bit scary, somewhat daunting thought, but I can't help but get the jitters.  For those of you that don't know what I'm doing (if there are any) I am going to volunteer for 6 weeks at a non-profit veterinary clinic based on the island Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands.  I will be working 5 days a week, with 2 days all to myself to do whatever I want to!  I will be working with the Esther Honey Foundation to provide free veterinary care for the animals on the island.  I believe that a large portion of what I will be doing is spay/neuters for dogs and cats, but we have a fully functioning veterinary clinic to perform most surgeries and treatments.  This is going to be such a wonderful learning experience, to grow in my career - not to mention taking a 6 week holiday to a tropical island.  It doesn't get much better than that!!  Here are some pictures for your jealousy- I mean...enjoyment :)

 

 

 

These are pictures of Rarotonga, the Island where I will be staying.  I don't know how big it is exactly, but they say that it takes roughly an hour bus ride to make a full circle around the island, to give an idea.  There is even an LDS branch there, it's so good to know that wherever you go in the world, the Church is there!!  And now here are some pictures of what I will be doing and seeing.

 

little bit 'a this...

 

little bit 'a that...

 

I've heard the shopping is great too...

 

and a whole lot of this - 

 

quite a bit of that...

 

Hopefully a fair amount of this...

 

and a bit less of that..

All-in-all, it will definitely be a life changing experience, and I am already hoping that I get to go back! 

Eating some Humble Pie

So I was asked to speak in church on Sunday, and as I was talking with Carissa about my topic, and brainstorming a bit, I decided that I want to share a story with you all.  I had thought about posting it a few days after it happened, but procrastinated and then never did it.  I typed this up earlier in my notes for my talk as a possibility for sharing, so here it is.

 Just two weeks ago, as I was getting ready to head out of town, I had the car packed and everything ready to go except for just one thing.  My keys, and they were gone.  Unexplainably, they had disappeared to the Land of Lost Things – a place with which my belongings are familiar.  For 45 minutes I tore my house apart, looking in the bathroom, my car, even the refrigerator and cupboards.  I had multiple thoughts to myself throughout this process that I should stop and say a prayer for help.  Out of a combination of pride, and feeling silly about doing something so cliché I refused, and still I searched.  Finally, at my wits end, about ready to call my sister and tell her I wasn’t coming to see her after all, I humbled myself and dropped to my knees in my bedroom.  I didn’t say anything particularly profound, just apologized for my stubbornness and asked for help in finding what I sought.  As I closed my prayer and looked up, I could see – and from where I was kneeling I could even reach – the keys I had so frantically looked for.  All the while, within my reach.  A hint of “I told you so” came floating through my mind, and as my face flushed and my humiliation because to rise, the softness of the Spirit came over me and I realized that I had learned a valuable lesson.  No problem is too small or too trivial, and most importantly - if ye ask in faith, ye shall receive!  It is an accumulation of these small, but profound experiences that has built my testimony to where it is now.  

Obviously, I'm not perfect in my faith, but by using experiences like this, I can strengthen my faith, and increase my conviction to keep myself humble and respond to promptings when I receive them.  If I can't be trusted to respond to a prompting so trivial as a prayer for help, how can I expect to be trusted with promptings regarding the spiritual or temporal welfare of the sisters with which I have now been entrusted?  This has been some food for thought for me the last couple weeks, and I have sincerely committed myself to recognizing and responding to the promptings I am given.  I am very grateful for the tender lessons I learn in life, for by small and simple things are great things brought to pass.

'Tis the Season!

So where to begin? As usual, it has been quite some time since my last post.  It would take far too long for me to review all that has happened since my last post, so for news of my latest adventures, just read through Mandi and Carissa's blogs; they are pretty good at documenting my adventures with them :)  Oh what would I do without my sisters?

Well, I finally live in a real apartment! I have a washer and dryer! I have counter space! The ceiling is more than 6 ft tall! And.....I got a REAL Christmas Tree!! I have been waiting for years to have a place where I could get a real tree, and put lights and all my ornaments on it!  My wonderful mother went tree shopping with me last friday and we picked out the best tree on the lot!  It was run by what looked like a couple brothers, and true to form, my mom bargained for a discount on my tree. (it was only $5 but hey...it's great right!)  So we strapped that tree to the roof of my car and brought it home.  Jon came over and helped me get it in the stand, then on Sunday I put on the lights and just finished the ornaments tonight.  I absolutely loved putting up all my ornaments and smiling at the silly stories that are written with some of them.  I am so grateful for the tradition of the ornament exchange.  All of my ornaments mean something, and each one feels like a little piece of family here with me!  Below are a few that had particularly potent memories. (Sorry about the order, blogger does some weird stuff)  With all my christmas decorating it has brought a few waves of sadness that I will not be able to come home for christmas this year.  Sitting at home alone, waiting for the phone to ring and call me into work is not exactly how I pictured spending my first christmas away from home.  But life is life, and you do what you gotta do right?!  I discovered yesterday that I will at least be able to go home on Friday for the weekend and still see all my family together.  It's times like these that I try to remember to count my blessings, and keep in mind it could be a lot worse.

  Aunts Missy and Kristy - 2000,2002

 My first Tree! 

 Good ol' Grandma Great - 1999

 Wouldn't be a christmas without some blue & orange!

 Thanks to Carissa, this is real Texas cotton! Fresh off the plant - 2012

 Hahaha, and Aunt Missy, her tribute to the Swine Flu - 2009

This is a baby Jesus in a manger of popsicle sticks and yarn, I believe I made in Nursery or early Primary - 1990's

Thanks to all my family who sent me presents for under my tree! I feel so blessed :)

 This is for Chandler, front and center :)

 The kitty is not so thrilled with the new addition to my living room...such a good toy and such a shame not to be able to play with it!!

Speaking of cats -- you know how in general I really love my job?  I love to play with puppies and kittens that come in, there's so many pets that I have had the pleasure of watching grow up from babies, or that I have helped to save their life. 

Well, today was not one of those "just love my job" days.  Unfortunately, this kind of thing comes with the territory, and it IS in the job description....but it still sucks when it happens to you!  There is a 5th scratch you can't see well, that is mostly up my nose, and curves around the bottom.  That's the one that actually stung, I think it was worse than putting lemon juice in a paper cut.  And it bled for about 20 minutes! All the clients I interacted with thereafter made comments about it, something I have to look forward to for a couple weeks now.  Awesome.  I hate cats. 

My Day of Epic Failness

So I think today was the most EpiC FaiL day of my life!!! haha, it started when I came out of the bathroom at work this morning and noticed the other technician already there, when she had another hour before her shift.  When I question her, she tells me that she is the opener.  I woop out my ipod w/ the schedule on it and say no look, Friday - Jacque, 7-6.  She says "um no....it's only thursday!!"  I proceed to bang my head against a nearby door...it hurts.  Oh well, I could use the extra hour, no biggie.  Around 8:30 when Brandie gets there, I have her come w/ me to the car shop so I can drop my car off to have my tranny worked on, and get a ride back to work.  Besides fighting w/ my brain all day about friday really being thursday, all goes fairly smoothly until roughly 4:30-5:00 in the afternoon when I start feeling like I'm forgetting something.  I think it's just something around the clinic, a client I forgot to call back or some such, so I brush it off when I can't place it.  6:15 comes around when I realize what I forgot was my car.  The shop closes at 6.  I think to myself...'wow, I'm really winning today.'  So in the midst of trying to arrange carpools home and to work again the next morning (when I really do open) I decide to give it a shot and hope that someone is still at the shop.  Colleen buzzes me down there, and I get in right as the mechanic was leaving. Whew!!  Crisis averted, I go back to the clinic to help finish closing.  So Sherilynn comes to me and says, "so I don't need to pick you up at the car shop tomorrow morning anymore? Nice that they could get you in a day early"  REALLY?!....  as the realization dawns on me and everyone else, I realize how big of a retard I am.  In lieu of my believing it was friday, I took my car in a DaY eArLy!  and they were even descent enough at the shop not to even question it, but took my car in anyway.  I look longingly at the door again, thinking I should have saved the head pounding for now.  Once the laughing dies down enough for me to be heard, I salute everyone, inform them that I am indeed done for the day and proceed to leave.  On pulling out of the parking lot, i realize I have left the kitten inside.  whoops! at least I hadn't gone far. - - Home at last!! Stacey isn't around, so I sit down with a large tub of ice cream intending to feast for awhile when I see my visiting teaching companion walking up the steps.  Seriously?!?!  I drag myself off the couch, quickly change and volunteer to drive.  Her startled squawk reminds me I left the kitten in the car. -_-  One big sigh, and I remind myself that this day does, eventually, have to end.  At least tomorrow I have some fun to look forward to!  But for now, I'm going to bed early.

About time to get some thoughts out

I have felt for awhile now that I wanted to make a post, but I have neglected it because most of the time when I feel like I need to get my feelings out it's because I'm having a "bad night". Meaning an evening spent down memory lane, feeling very sad and wondering why the start of 2012 had to get off so rotten. I mean, New Year's is supposed to be a happy thing, right?? My last tough night I had was when Lindy posted her poem she wrote for school. And then right after that mom posted about the apples. Earlier in the afternoon I had visited Chandler's facebook page, and read some of the continuing thoughts of his schoolmates and friends. Instead of posting on my blog, I just write in my journal and get all my emotions down on paper. It feels very much like a releasing of pent up emotions and sadness and helps me to talk myself through things. But I also feel that is something you don't all really want to read :) So tonight, I am feeling a surge of emotion at the other end of the spectrum, and I feel this is something I can and would like to share with everyone.

Life has not been all roses and sunshine thus far into the year. But neither has it been all gray and gloomy. While I have experienced the most intense heart-ache I have ever felt, so too have I come to know my Savior in a way I never could have before. Many of the plain and simple truths I have been taught all my life became real to me all of a sudden. The simplest and most important thing I have learned is that God loves Me. With everything going on in the world, all the billions of people going through tougher times than I, He took the time to show me His love and heal my heart. I learned truly what it means to turn my sorrows over to Him who has born it already. Christ has been through it all and more, so that I wouldn't have to suffer alone. At my lowest moment, I was given a blessing through the priesthood and from that moment my burden has been lightened. I have felt a closeness to the Spirit that used to be absent in my day to day life. It's not as hard to remember to read my scriptures every day, and I have found myself quicker to count my blessings and to thank my Father. Just yesterday my visiting teachers came, and she read the scripture
Helaman 5:12 -- And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

I would have to say that the devil himself has given our family a pretty good row this year, but Christ is my rock and my foundation! Through all that has happened, I can't help but feeling a little triumphant at the victory I have won! I know there are still going to be hard times for a very long time, the family reunion this year is going to be difficult, as will Thanksgiving and Christmas, and next New Year's. But the testimony I have gained is engraven on my heart as deeply as was my love for Chandler. At the same time I feel sad, I also feel a little assurance, my family is forever and death itself cannot break that bond. My thoughts have been turned to grandma Koyle lately as well, and I have been recording some of my memories with her so they too can be cherished throughout my life until I see her again. How grateful I am to know the things I know!!

It's On!

So last night I pull into my driveway only to discover that IT SNOWED!! but only in my yard. 30 feet away in my landlords yard there was not a drop. Awesome. I decided to clean most of it up last night just so I didn't have to worry about it this morning, but I took some pictures for all your enjoyments. I don't know exactly who did it, but I have my suspicions. I saved all the toilet paper, so once I find out for sure....IT'S ON!!! hahaha, they have no idea they just messed with the toilet papering Queen! Oh, it brings back lots of good memories!!!!

Little Bit of This, and a Little Bit of That

Ok Missy...this is for you!! I'm not going to update you all on my entire summer, that would take way too long. Suffice it to say that my summer and early fall has consisted of work, playing, working more and lots of playing!! with sleeping and eating occasionally thrown in there. I have made friends with a great group of kids from my singles branch, and we just have a blast. Throwing parties, having sunday dinners together, milkshake parties, bonfires, ultimate frisbee, glow-in-the-dark hide-n-seek at the caves, chasing the kamima lights, shaving cream or whipcream fights....basically LiViN the LiFe!

Work is great also, I get to see so much stuff that I just think is fascinating! I love being able to continually learn, and see the benefits that come from modern medicine. I have recently gotten to see a few c-section surgeries....and I just love it!! It is just another testament to the miracle of life and creation. It just warms my heart watching their little bodies coming to life! So much fun!! Not to mention I love that I get to play with the puppies afterwards.

Speaking of C-sections though...I can't even begin to imagine what it was like for Carissa. I just can't wait to welcome baby Koyle into our family, and to see how he's going to grow up. What his personality is going to be like, his likes and dislikes, how handsome he will be, and most of all I can't wait to be his FAVORITE aunt!

All-in-all, life is just fantastic. It has its speed bumps here and there, but as a whole I can't complain one bit. I'm so grateful for my grandparents and Rick and Amber, for all the help they give me. I have loved living so close to them and getting to know my cousins better; even though I look at them more like nieces and nephews than cousins.

Here are some pictures to highlight the fun I have been having lately.

Buddy the dog...he's only 6 months old!

The 10 puppies we had left on our doorstep one night. They were so adorable!!! but talk about holy pooping machines!

Playing with Eli and Becca while I babysit them every Tuesday

I love her smiles!

Trying to decide whether or not she should go down the slide....

Who needs snow for sledding??

The product of one of our c-sections...the puppy is about 20 minutes old.

Me with baby Nahrii, one of Tahj and Dane's nieces. She is so sweet :)

Baby Koyle!!!! Look at that big head and red hair! I can't wait to meet him!!!!

Sam and I in Rexburg last weekend, after we got done playing frisbee.

The quilt I made for Koyle!! Tahj spent 2 hours at Walmart with me picking out fabric for my quilt, and then her mom helped me all along the way to make it. She let me use her big quilting machine to put patterns all over it, it looks wonderful! All I have left to do is bind it. I guess I better get going on that!

One of the above mentioned whip cream fights....lets just say it didn't end well for me :)

Tahj, Eliza, and myself worked so hard on the presentation for this milkshake party! it turned out fantastic. A lot of people showed up, and we had a great time eating everything!