Go Gutsy!

Jill and I went to Neenah to the Singles Ward again today and let me tell you, I am soooo glad we did! Every lesson and talk was so good and exactly what I needed to hear! In sacrament, all the talks were on missionary work and they were just amazing!

Well the new Sister Missionary talked first and her talk was amazing! She talked about being missionaries in our everyday lives, talking with co-workers, friends, etc... As I sat there I kept thinking..."ok I can do that, but how do I start it??" I work at the hospital and at corner bar, I know that there are many opportunities, but I just need to get the courage to say something. What hit me the most in her talk was her story at the end and challenge. Her niece was learning to ride a bike and had training wheels that were unsteady and she was scared, but she was learning. Well when she would ride the sidewalk, she would always ride up to a dip in the walk and then would slam on the breaks, for weeks she would not go through the dip...she was scared of falling and getting hurt. Well finally one day she was headed for that dip and her mom yells to her.."Go Gusty!!!!" And she did! She rode through the dip and made it to the corner!

The Challenge: GO GUTSY!!!! Go for it! I just love it, and I hope that I can do it!

New Year, New Goals...

new years resolutions!!!! i made more goals than actual resolutions:

• get straight A's this semester (having a semester off has made me lazy and i'm nervous to start again, but i'm bound and determined to get back in the grind and kick schools butt)
• be better at writing in my journal (i'm terrible)
• be better at daily prayer and scripture reading (always need for improvment!)
• learn more & cook more
• save $$$$ and budget better
• be a more friendly person and a better person all together
• ultimately be happy

these are just a few, but i do hope to accomplish lots :) with the decision to stay home and go to school here, i'm sacrificing a lot and unfortunatly i have second guessed my decision many times...don't get me wrong, i LOVE being home and with my family, this is HOME! having no social life is making me sad though, i miss my friends in arizona and i do worry about being here with few people my age with my standards, but i remind myself that i did pray about this decision and know that right now i need to be home. i am also quickly reminded with just a smile from one of the 14 little kiddos that i love dearly!!! with that i hope the new year brings new challenges, new experiences, and HAPPY HAPPY days.

Bring on 2010...Happy New Year

Christmas 2009

I love this Holiday!!!! I had a White Christmas again, and honestly its not Christmas any other way :) One bad thing is that we really didn't take family pics like we usually do, oh well next year right??

Well we did our usual, Christmas Eve everyone came over and we played the gift game that my mom just loves...she buys the same number gifts as people and we all pick a number, #1 goes first (which is the worst!) picks a gift, #2 goes then and either can steal #1 gift or pick their own and so on...it really gets interesting, this year my present that I picked was a bunch of 2 dollars bills, and anyone who knows my brother Jake knows that he is a BIG fan of those, and just my luck he was after me so you guessed it, he stole them so fast haha and my next present I picked was McDonald's coupons, I don't like McDonalds...yuck! so my dad got them, so needless so say I got ripped off haha the worst part was that I was with my Mom when she bought most of the gifts and I knew what I wanted... it sure is fun though. The Kids got to play pass-the-parsel...

At the end, all the kids got something...the boys got their own truck and the girls all got lip gloss hehe everyone was in their glory!!

We sang Christmas songs, played Murder, talked, ate, laughed a lot and ate some more. It was a fun night with everyone :)
Me and my sister while watching the kids play pass-the-parsel :)

Dad got his jacket that he wanted!!! I have the BEST Dad!!!

Opening Presents...all so very happy!!