The meaning of Christmas

So I read on one of my friend's facebook statuses that she thinks Christmas is stupid.. Um.. I'm sorry but I COMPLETELY disagree with this and I'll tell you why..

First off, CHRISTmas is about the birth of Christ. Not about presents, music, decorations, etc. I think that Christmas has become this over commercialized season. People are so obsessed with shopping, and getting decorations up around their house that they've forgotten the true meaning of the holiday, which is Christ. Black Friday, ya that's a joke. I understand that some people may like shopping that day, but they've never worked it, at least not in retail. Because if they had, they wouldn't like shopping it. I think it's completely ridiculous that people run, dash, and fight for THINGS. Stupid material possessions that, quite frankly, most people forget about come 2 months later. Now, there are some things that are awesome gifts to give, but I would bet money people don't fight over those items. I had to work the 4am shift on black Friday, and come 6am, I'd already had one lady THROW a shoe at me, which did cause a bruise, and I had 2 other ladies yell at me because we didn't have the shoe they wanted. That's just a little over the top if you ask me.


So, like I mentioned, I work in retail, and we've been playing Christmas music since the day after Halloween. What is that?! Seriously, by the time Christmas comes around I'm sick of the music. And the music they play!! Oh my goodness, Santa Baby? That's possibly the worst song ever, and they play FIVE different versions of it at my work. That's just a little over done. More than half the songs are about santa, presents, and anything not related to why we celebrate Christmas. Don't get me wrong, there are awesome Christmas songs out there, but most of the ones that I like are about Christ. (Go figure).


I LOVE Christmas. I love being able to spend time with my family, and enjoy their company. I love the music that I can play on the piano, because it's so beautiful! I love the season, I love going outside and having it be cold, and having snow on the ground. I completely love the smells of Christmas. It's so hard to describe what they are, but I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I love the traditions my family has. But most of all, I love my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because if it weren't for Him we wouldn't have the chance that we have to gain eternal life and live with Him and our Heavenly Father again. And without Him, we wouldn't have the reason we have to celebrate this time of year.



Anyway, I'm sorry if this post seemed a little heated, but I have strong feelings about Christmas, and when someone calls it stupid, well it makes me just a little upset. I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas and that you remember the reason for the season. :)

I'm the worst blogger ever..

So, it's been two months since I've blogged. I'm possibly the worst at keeping up to date about these things. I'm not that good at journal writing either, go figure. So anyway, I think I'll catch y'all up with what's going on in my life..

School is going pretty good, I'm almost done with the semester. Hopefully, I'll pass my classes and still keep my 3.1 GPA. So I went and talked to my advisor tonight, and I'm officially enrolled in my last semester!! And I filled out my graduation form! So I have started the graduation process, and if they deem everything OK, I will be graduating in May!! WOOT!!! I'm so excited!!

I've been reading/studying Preach My Gospel. It is an AMAZING book. I love it, and I recommend for all church members to read/study it. It just makes me so much more excited to get working on my mission papers. I should be turning them in in February, if all goes well. And hopefully I'll leave late May, early June. Even if I go later than that, I'm still excited for it. :D

So, work is well... Work. Except for right now, there's a lot more drama than there was. And it's partly my fault, but if people would do their job, and get there on time, everything would be so much better. But I know there are always people who are going to take advantage of the system, and I was just tired of my co-worker doing it. But other than that, everything there is good. I'll just be glad to leave in May. No matter what, I am quitting in May, I refuse to stay there after I get my Associates.

My brother is serving a mission in the Philippines, and so far, he's doing pretty good. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss him. I kinda missed him when I moved out here, but he was always just a phone call away. Now I can only email him once a week. It's hard, but I know he's doing the Lord's work, so that makes it easier for me to bare. And on top of that, my sister is in Iraq. Now that is something that's really hard for me, cause she's in the war zone, and she could die at any moment. I just keep praying that she'll be OK, and that nothing will happen to her, but these days you just never know.

Well, that's all that's going on here. I'll try to update more regularly, but I can't promise anything. :)

Our Nauvoo Trip

So today my sisters and I went to Nauvoo, IL and toured around a little. Nauvoo has a lot of historical significance for my church and I wanted to share that with my sisters. Anyway, we had a blast!

First, we went to the Joseph Smith visitor's center. That was pretty cool to tour around to his different houses and his burial site, and then the Red Brick Store.
Which is a pretty cool store.


Then we went further into Nauvoo and walked around the Temple and took pictures there. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I had to take pictures on my phone, but with a little tweaking, they'll look better. :)



Then we went down to the Nauvoo visitor's center, and walked around a little and showed my sisters pictures from different points in the history of the Church. After that we just walked around Old Town Nauvoo and went to different buildings. We went to the blacksmith's and got a "Prairie Diamond Ring" which doesn't have a diamond, but looks kinda cool, just a bit different. We then went to the bakery and looked around then got a ginger bread cookie, which was delicious! After that, we went to the Family Living Center and learned how to make different things that made the pioneer's lives easier, like wool, candles, rope, bread, rugs, pottery, etc. That was pretty cool, and ended up getting the rope we helped make, a piece of oven bread, and a candle. The last thing we got to go to was the Cultural Hall, which was an awesome building!



Overall, it was an awesome trip, and when I asked my sisters what the best part about the whole thing was, they said it was getting to see the Temple. That just made my heart sing. So, I recommend to anyone that's never been to Nauvoo, to go. It's such a fun experience, and you learn so much about the pioneers.

My birthday!

On Monday, August 3rd, I turned 21!! It's such an interesting age for those people who don't drink. Because while now I can do whatever, smoke, drink, go into bars and that type of stuff, I don't believe in doing any of that. So it was almost like a regular birthday.

So I worked that morning and then I came home and my family and I had dinner, then had cake and ice cream and presents time. For the presents I got the 3rd book of The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Micheal Scott (for those of you who haven't heard of it, they're really good books!), the 7th season of Gilmore Girls and a connector from my ipod to my car. It was almost like a normal day, but it was still fun. Well, I guess it's welcome to the land of early twenties!

And this is picture of my cake that my step mom and step sisters decorated for me. It turned out pretty good. And the funny thing is, is that my step mom didn't know white daisies are my favorite flower, she just drew them on there. I thought that was pretty cool. :)

Catching up

So I figured it's been a while since I've written anything.. So I'd catch y'all up on what's going on in my life..

First off, I have officially lost 30 pounds!! Heck yes!! It's been a while coming, and I'm happy to finally be past that hurdle.. Now on to losing 40 pounds! I've stopped working out with Igor, but I'm still working out on my own, with my step mom. And I'm still working myself as hard, if not harder than when I was working out with Igor, and I must admit it's fun to tell my step mom what to do. ;) I finally went pants shopping, and bought the next size down from what I've been wearing!! WOOT!!! I can't wait until I'm down another size, actually what I really can't wait for is to get to my goal weight so I can buy a whole new wardrobe!! That'll be so exciting!!

This past Sunday my family and I went swimming out on the lake on our pontoon boat. Well, I brought my dog, and apparently she doesn't like deep water.. Or maybe she just doesn't like being made to go in involuntarily.. Whichever it is, I've learned my lesson. I was the only person in the water when she got in so, naturally she came over and tried to use me as a buoy. Well, in the process I got all scraped and bruised. So now I look like I've been mugged, I have so many bruises on my arms, a scratch on my face, one inside my lip, a bunch of scratches and bruises on my back, and a 6 inch scratch on my side that hurts a lot. Let's just say, that the next time I bring her swimming, I'm going to let her get in by herself, and hopefully she'll learn that it's ok to swim without attacking me.

Every Tuesday night, for a couple of months now, a bunch of ladies from the ward and I play basketball, well I've noticed that my skills are getting better, which is such a good thing! I've never really been that great at sports, but basketball especially. It's good to know that you're never too old to learn new tricks.

Road Trips and other things!!

Ok, so besides moving out here to MO, I haven't driven across country by myself. And when I moved out here, I may have been in the car by myself, but I wasn't driving by myself, I was following my dad. Anyway! I am going back to Utah for a week in July, because one of my friends is getting married, and I'm a bridesmaid. So I decided to take off a week for it. And I am so incredibly excited!! I am driving by myself for about 1500 miles, give or take a few. I feel like it'll be a growing up experience for me, because I tend to rely too much on other people to get me to where I'm going, and on this trip, it'll just be me and the road. Of course, I'll mapquest my destination, so here's hoping that I don't get lost.. ;)

So, I got contacts last Friday. It's not the first time I've had them, but it's been over 2 years since I've had them. They are so nice! I love them!! I love being able to wear sunglasses without looking like a dork. I love doing my hair and not being blind while doing so. There are alot of things that I'm glad to have contacts for, I just can't name them all. But they are a great invention, that's for sure!!

OH!!! And I have officially lost 25 pounds!! And 2 1/2 inches around the waist! That's a pant size and a half down from what I used to be!! WOOT!

Weight loss is awesome!

So, since just after Christmas my dad and I have been working out with a personal trainer, Igor. And this week I have officially lost 20 pounds!! AHH!! It's so stinking exciting!! I've been trying to get to this mark for a few weeks now, so now that I'm here, it's uber awesome!

Well, now that I've lost 20 pounds I get to go buy new pants. Because all of my pants are falling off of me, and for the first time in my life I have to wear a belt with my pants. But ya, it's a super exciting thing for me. And I can't wait until I get down to my goal weight!

Mission Prep

So for the past few weeks, every Sunday I went to mission preparation class . It was so much fun! I felt the spirit a lot, and I learned a lot. Well yesterday was the last day. I'm bummed, but it's helped me see that I do want to serve a mission.


It's so fun to start preparing! I'm reading my scriptures more, and Preach My Gospel, which is such a great book/manual! I'm trying to get myself into the time table of the missionary, to bed by 1030 pm and up by 630 am. That's hard! And so far, I am failing at that pursuit, but I'm not going to give up! Before this experience I wasn't sure if I had a very strong testimony of the Gospel. I can now say that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the true church, and I know that I have a strong testimony of this truth.


Overall, this experience has been so good for me, and I'm glad to be doing it.

I finally have my car back in commision!!

So, the first Monday this month I got pulled over, because my plates were expired. Well, that's something easily corrected, right? Uh.. No.

Well, I went and got my emissions and inspections taken care of, and then I went to register it. And the DMV tells me that I cannot register it until I have my title for my car sent over from Utah. That's easier said then done. So I call my bank in Utah to ask them to send it to the DMV out here in Missouri. They said that they had to have an official request for it. So I call the DMV of Missouri, and they said they'd fax over a request. Well, 5 days later, they still hadn't faxed it. This is 2 weeks after I get my ticket. So I again call the DMV. They FINALLY fax a request. I ask my bank to overnight my title, they said they would. Did they? Nope, they sent it regular mail. So I had to wait yet, another week for my title to get here.

The DMV FINALLY recieved my title last Friday. It had to be put into the system, or whatever it is they do with out of state titles, so I finally got my car registered yesterday!! WOO HOO!! Now all there is left to do is show up for my court date, and maybe get my tickets waved.. Let's cross our fingers. :D