We're on the green dot!

I don't even know where to begin. Life couldn't get any better. I'm staying so busy. Almost too busy. During the week, I have to pick and choose what I'm going to get done and make it to. Work everyday from 8-12 is lots better than I thought it would be. I honestly didn't know if I was going to be able to wake up to my alarm. It still takes 3 alarms for me to actually hear it, but I eventually hear it. Infact sometimes it takes 3 alarms and 2 phone calls from my boss before I wake up......yikes. This happened yesterday, and I recieved a phone call earlier today to make sure I was up. Haha. Jamie is the best.I'm sure Yujin just loves being my roommate. :p I set one at 7:00, 7:15, and 7:30. That gives me 15 minutes to say prayers, get dressed, brush teeth, grab some fruit and run out the door.

Prayers have never been answered so clearly. I'll share brief stories.

Praying for missionary and service opportunity....got a call from the institute asking to co direct the missionary committee. Holy cow.

This is just one story. There are many personal stories that have truly influenced my life and so many decisions being made. It's amazing how the Lord works. My testimony of prayer and faith have been strengthened tremedously.

I'm loving being in the General Conference choir. Practices are always such a good experience and the spirit is always present.

Yujin and I have loved TaeBo lately. We both are so tired by the end.

Every weekend is amazing. I get to spend it with Derek, and either my family or his. I always have so much fun. I come back to school extremely tired, but I get to catch up during the week. This last weekend was so good. I can't wipe the smile from my face.

Here is a picture of Derek and I at a Japanese restaurant last friday.

A couple of weekends ago, we went to the planetarium and to a sushi bar. It was a blast.

Funny story about trying to find the sushi bar............So

derek plugs into his Iphone the name of the Sushi place and the starting point, and he hands me the phone to direct us. I led us in a circle a couple times by taking many rights. We finally pull up to a stop sign and I'm way excited because we're on the green dot finally!!! We were so close so many times when turning right over and over again. There is nothing around us! I was so confused! Finally derek looks at the phone and dies laughing. He then says, "The green dot is the starting point!". It takes a real dumb dumb to do something like that. It was super funny.

What happens in VeGa$ definitely doesn't stay in VeGa$ when it's with the Phelps family!

Vegas was an absolute blast. I can't believe all but about 3 cousins made it. There were 30 of us! I was the only 3rd generation cousin, but they're all close to my same age so I always tag along. Saturday we all hung out, and a few of us drove the strip.

Here are the few. Loni, Kelci, and Helen. Three amazing girls!

Friday we wanted to make some deals. K dumb joke. We went to "Let's make a deal!" with Wayne Brady. It was so intense!! We waited in line, had our interviews, then patiently waited to be seated. We were all pretty tired after waiting a while. I was worried I'd be falling asleep during the show. Oh no. No no. Once we entered the room, adrenaline flowed through my body and I had SO much energy! I was in a full on clown costume. Everyone has such goofy outfits on. Part of the show is dressing up, in case anyone was wondering why we were all dressed up. Before the show started, the stage manager came over to me and a few others and explained that we would be on the camera for most of the show, so we needed to have lots of energy the whole time and always be aware of what's going on. I had no clue how this game was even played! Wayne Brady comes out walking down the steps next to me, and I'm screaming acting like it's always been my dream to see him. Now that I think about it, I probably was just supposed to be clapping acting like he'd already been with us. Idk. Owell. He starts looking around for his first contestant. Wayne: "Who wants to make a deal?!" Everyone: screaming and clapping. Wayne: "Holly! Are you ready to make a deal?!" What're the chances that Holly gets picked out of everyone...and first!! She won a living room set I believe. Show goes on, I make a fool of myself the whole show, and am having a blast doing it. There was a point in the show, when someone chose a Zonk! The curtain opened, and of course, I start clapping and cheering. I didn't know what a zonk was! By the end of the game, I figured out how the game was played.

Finally it comes down to the Deal of the Day! And Holly gets chosen!!!! We were all freaking out! No only does she get chosen, but she wins the big deal! All 30 of us were jumping up and down on the stage and hugging and screaming. I haven't had that much energy in a long time! We aren't sure what the date is that they are airing it yet. I'm excited to watch it.

Holly (left) was the winner!!

After such an amazing day, we headed to the best buffet I've ever been to. They had every kind of food. The Crepes I think were everyone's favorite.

Cute Kelci and a delicious crepe

This wasn't the good stuff, but the only picture I could find of a plate of food.

Some people did some shopping, while a few of us hung out. The night before I thought I had lost my card, so I had to call and cancel it. As always, I found it right after cancelling it. But it's such a good thing, cause I ended up spending no money the whole trip! :) Some of us that weren't buying anything spent lots of time in this jewelry store. It was way fun. That night, we all went to ice cream in our pajamas, and then sat in one hotel room laughing and telling stories. Saturday morning, some of us went to the city center, and others went to the M&M and coke factories. We all met for lunch, then had to part. Aunt Nanette and I headed to the airport. I was flying home so I could go see Derek.

Me walking through the City Center. The architecture was amazing. The wood structure in front of me is the bottom of a restauraunt. There was a bubble with glass above it with all the tables. Amazing.

Everyone up really late chatting.

The Belagio had incredible cakes.

The chocolate fountain! A girls dream...

It was hilarious watching everyone taking pictures of others at once,

The Shenla jones girls. These are all my aunts and Grandma.

I love my mom tons.

ALMOST everyone.

The welcome wall and the mall.

Experience at the airport:

It took me a couple full flights till I finally got on, but I made it, and cute Derek picked me up.

Vegas created so many good memories and brought us all closer together as family!

I couldn't be happier!!!

Short post since it's WAY past my bedtime. I just wanted ya'll to know....

I am so extremely happy. I couldn't keep it in. I had to tell someone. Does a blog count?

A wAlKeR wEeKeNd!

Music

Iron Man

Laughing

Scriptures

Cookies

Brian Regan

Wingers

Ice Skating

Bedtime Stories

Utah State

Car overheating

Blue Bird

Sego Lily

Friends of Derek (Bradford and Jenessa)

Most of all....... Good Memories

What does the year 2010 bring?

I was talking with my good friend melissa a couple weeks ago, and we were both saying how we feel like 2010 has a lot in store. We have no clue what, but we are both excited to make it a good year.

I used to say I wish I could see the future.

I've changed my mind.

My friend Kandance once posted this quote on our private friend blog. "Never doubt an unknown future to a known God." I think that's what it was. That gave me so much comfort. I was worrying too much about the small things.

I've also noticed that I am much more patient and at peace with the decisions I'm making, when I'm staying close to the Savior. I have been good at reading scriptures and saying prayers everyday for a while now. I think I deserve bragging rights cause it was so hard for me for a long time. Haha. I've worked hard for that habit!

Cali comes to a close...

Cali was amazing! I had such a good time. Many great memories were created, and spending time with family and good friends is always wonderful. Sea World was was the bomb, as always. Clyde and Seamore are still my favorite friends at Sea World. They're so funny! I have the show memorized, but I still laugh and have the smile of an ecstatic 4 year old on my face. We made it home Saturday. Here a few random pictures of memories on the trip.

Burying Haley at the beach.
Beautiful sunset
SeaWorld!
Brynn Naylor (cousin) and crippled Hannah from her surgery.

Hannah and I figured out that we can blow a bubble from both ends! She blows a bubble, I pop it from the other end, make sure my mouth covers the hole, and blow. I'm sure many of you are saying ew....she's my sister. It was cool ok? Get over it. Haha.

Playing kickball.
My favorite SeaWorld show!

Saturday I was able to spend the night with girlfriends only which was quite nice. I went to Lindsey Rhodes reception. She looked beautiful. Her and Nate Newman make a cute couple. Then all the girls went to Jess's apt. We always take votes on who will be next to get married. Christine's wedding is coming up which is so crazy. They voted me next! Yikes. I vote I'll be last. Jk. Who knows. When the right person comes around, they come around! The picture below is when all of us friends went to look at Christine's wedding dress! It's so crazy we're old enough to be married!

It's such an interesting time of life. Friends are getting married, leaving for missions, coming home from missions, some have passed away, some are accomplishing amazing things and traveling the world, and some doing nothing with their lives. Last year, I was still in play mode. "School's not that important. Life's a breeze. My life's so hard. Me gain ten pounds? Never! I can learn to cook when I'm married. I'm always right." Boy was I wrong about every single one of those things. School is so important to me. Everyone has their trials for a reason. There is so much to learn from trials! Now, when hard times come up, it's a battle. I won't let down. I am going to keep doing my best and win, and really try to learn what Heavenly Father wants me to learn from this. I'm nowhere near perfect, but I now understand the importance of prayer and personal scripture study. These 2 things are crucial especially during hard times. Yes....I gained a few lbs last year. I thought I could eat whatever I wanted and not exercise forever. My mother always told me, and fine, I'll admit it. Mom's are usually right. USUALLY. Not always. ;) I am learning to love cooking. The past couple months I have enjoyed cooking, but only desserts. I burn almost everything I make. Darn ADD. I forget I'm cooking something right after I put it in the oven. I asked Santa for a cook book for Christmas. I'm going to start cooking healthy dinners, and not always just desserts! Yay!

School starts Wednesday. I definitely needed that break. I'm ready for the new semester. Here I come school!

Resolutions for 2010. For reals this year.

This is it. It's time to publicly state my 2010 resolutions. Every year I have set goals, but not with the same desire I have now. Here they are...

-Have a baby
-Make it to church at least 3 times a month

Gotcha! Sorry, dumb joke. I just wanted to see who would believe those.

Let me tell you a story...

I was writing a paper for Ethics and Values a while back, and I was assigned to answer some questions in the paper.

The question that got me thinking..."List 5 things you've accomplished in the past year."

My answer.................................................NOTHING!!!!! I eventually came up with things that were all really dumb, but after thinking about everything I haven't accomplished, I was really motivated to do so much better in life. I honestly could be doing so much with my life!!

So here are some things I want to accomplish this year.

1. Get my Associates Degree finished. I have one class left and it's math. Therefore I've been putting it off a long time.

2. Learn to cook WELL.

3. Learn a new skill (knitting, sewing, photography, etc.)

4. Read the Book of Mormon more intently than I ever have. To help me accomplish this, I'm taking a Book of Mormon institute class. I'm also taking Preparing for Eternal Marriage, and a Sign Language religion class.

5. Pray EVERY day. I am pretty good at remembering to pray, but occasionally I'll fall asleep watching a movie and have forgotten that morning or something. I will not miss a day this year.

6. Attend the temple EVERY week. No excuses.

7. This last semester I worked on doing an act of service every week. I missed many weeks. I really want to do better this year. Last year, my testimony of service grew so much. To be truly happy, I learned that you need to be thinking of others often. I made a goal that if I was going to ask someone how they are doing, I was really going to mean it, and actually listen to their answer. Something so small made such a big difference.

8. I am so terrible at exercising. I was in great shape in high school because of volleyball, then college came along...... I haven't really gained any weight, but I don't feel in shape, and I know my metabolism is going to slow down so bad someday so I need to get into the habit of exercising now! So my roommates and I have set a goal to exercise at LEAST 3 times a week! I'm going to look Jillian Michaels this time next year! Ok, maybe not so extreme. I just want to feel good and be healthy so I can live to be a great great grandma. Ok that was a little extreme also.

9. No more playing around when it comes to school. I really want to do good from here on out. I usually do fine, but I want to pass a test having studied for it so I have information that sticks with me, instead of just taking tests off of common sense.

10. I am the gospel doctrine teacher in my ward. I was called the beginning of last summer. I almost cried when Bishop Rigby popped the question. I said to him..."Bishop do you know how old I am? I am practically the youngest person in the ward....AKA.....the dumbest person in the ward......AKA.....I can't teach a ward about the gospel when I don't even understand it all myself!" His faith in me gave me so much confidence and faith in myself. I have grown to love the calling. I got into a bad habit though of preparing my lesson right before, during sacrament meeting. BUT....now we are onto the old testament this semester. UH OH!!!! I'm toast. I really am so scared. I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the old testament. Does this make me a bad person? I am making a goal for myself this semester to put a lot more effort into my lessons and truly read and pray about what to teach. A talk given during last general conference was on callings. I had some questions I had prayed about before conference and all were answered so specifically. Prayer is such an amazing thing.

Today is fast sunday. I'm so excited for church.