I'm Not Good With Creative Titles

I got bored in class today and was blog stalking people (don't worry mom, we were learning how to search for research and I already know how to...) and realized I haven't updated my blog in a while. And the pictures I post up with mostly have already been on facebook, but oh well. They're gonna make it up here too. :)

I started school on August 21st. I am a University of Utah student in their distance program. Which means that I go to school in St. George and all of our classes are video streamed from Salt Lake. We have microphones that we talk into if we want to comment and there is a video of us that is streamed back to Salt Lake so the teacher can see us. One thing I really like about this is it makes it really easy to not comment in class... which I am a fan of. I like taking notes and not making comments. :) School is going good. There is a lot of reading, but was to be expected. There are not as many papers as I thought there would be and one class even has all the assignments done in groups.

I am doing my practicum at the Department of Child and Family Services (DCFS). I go out with the workers and watch and listen to them do interviews. I am always asked if I have any questions to ask, and so far to this day I have been too chicken to ask any. OOPS haha. I did get talked to the other day about taking over the home visits for a case we are getting. So I would go out with the caseworker the first time to see the client and then after that I would make the visits to the home by myself. I am excited and scared to do this, but I got to face my fears sometime and do the work right?

The other day I got called in to work a graveyard because no one else could work it. The other staff and I got really bored about 3 am and to stop myself from falling asleep I went up and visited her for a bit.
I saw a picture online that I thought was funny and so I showed it to her.

She is a dancer and so is really flexible and we decided to try to remake the picture ourselves.

as soon as we took the picture, we both commented on how much of a giant  I look like in the hallway. also how unflexible I am :)

this year Monster Energy drinks did this thing where if you collect so many tabs and send them in they will give you free Monster gear. So i drank a lot of Monsters, and asked anyone else I saw drinking them if I could have their tab and collected my 75. the other day I got my jacket and I LOVE IT!!!! its comfortable and soft and i think the design is awesome.

Anyways, life in St. George is good. School is going good and so is work and my practicum. I'm sure the next time I update my blog in two months I'll have more to update you on. :D

Living, Laughing, and Loving

HOLY COW! it has been forever since I updated on here. Mostly because for a while I didn't have anything really to talk about. Life was in a lull and I was just coasting through it. But some updates...

-After being put on the wait list, I GOT ACCEPTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH. I start in August and do not have to leave St. George, yep, I am in their new distance program.

-In April I moved into a new house and I LOVE IT! i live with awesome girls and our house is so cute. I also have a little guy roommate that is 2 years old and adorable

-I learned how to wake board... okay more like i learned how to get up on the board and then i go out of control and crash hard in the water, but its fun and i love it

-i'm hoping to do my practicum for school at the DCFS... find out about that one later and will keep ya posted on that

-I just won $125 in bingo. I was so excited I jumped up and yelled bingo before the lady officially called the last number but I was just too happy to wait haha

-My mom made me a Ute blanket... I about died of shock when she gave it to me but I love it and love watching movies cuddling under it

I think those are the major note worthy updates... haha or the most random things on my mind.... anyways, life is good. stressful at times when school things dont work out like they should the first time but I getting by with a smile on my face :)

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! I can't believe its that time of year again. This year will be a little weird for me, my first official holiday all on my own! I guess I really am a grown up now. :( Luckily, I have some great friends though that are adopting me for the day... :D

Life in St. G is good, just working and having fun with friends. I love the weather, still running around in a light jacket and FLIP FLOPS! yeah sandals, and its the middle/end of November. I miss Idaho a little bit, but not the weather up there haha.

This year the things I am thankful for.....

 FAMILY:

 Thanks for all the crazy memories, the love and support. It's hard being away from all of you for a holiday, but know that 

I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOO much. I'm so grateful to have the family I do.

MOM: Thanks for all the support you give me, emotionally, spiritually, financially, all of it. You are an amazing woman and I love you so much!

Dad: Thanks for laughing at me when I'm stupid and not getting mad at things I do. I really appreciate it and I love you so much. You teach me to live life with a smile, it makes things better :)

Christina: I love you. I love your family. You are a great example to me and I hope someday I can be like you. 

Michael: I love the love I feel whenever I visit you and your family. Thank you for always welcoming me with open arms when I need an escape from life down south. Thanks for letting me confide in you and your wife. I love and miss you!

Ryan! You are awesome. I love you so much. Thanks for helping me out so much this year in all the different ways you have. I know if I ever have a problem I can turn to you. You are amazing!!!

LISA: Where to begin.... hahaha, I'm thankful for our fights, cuz they make me appreciate when we get along that much more. :) You are an amazing mom and wife. Thanks for keeping me level headed and sending me cute pictures of Paige all the time. LOVE YOU!!!

 FRIENDS!!!!

 Danyel: I haven't known her for long, but it's crazy how much we get along and how similar we are. Thanks for going on drives with me when I need to vent, for watching One Tree Hill with me all the time, and just being awesome!!!

 

 TYSON (aka snookums) !!!.... thanks for everything you do. for being my support and encouragement, for believing in me and pushing me to be better, for letting me vent and tell you the random things I think about during the day.... You really are my best friend and I am so glad I have you in my life. You are amazing. :) oh also, I am extremely grateful for your HUGS!

 BRITTANY!!!! - thanks for letting me live at your house for a month while I figured out my life. Thanks for always being there for me, through the laughs and tears. You are a wonderful woman. I love you. :)

MACKENZIE!!!! I Love you so much! you just have so much swag I don't know what to do with myself when I'm around you. I love how much knowledge you have about random things, I leave hanging out with you a smarter person. Thanks for everything you do, let me crash at your house, use your things, the haircuts, just everything you do....

My friends not mentioned with a special picture or post, know that I love you too! You are all special to me and I'm thankful for all of you!!!

MY CLIENTS!!!

 I love my clients so much. There are days when they are frustrating beyond belief, but they teach me so much...... not to take the little things in life for granted, to let go of hard feelings and be friends with people you are mad at (one particular client teaches me this alot haha :) ), to always show love to those around you, and many many more things. I am so grateful to work with them and to be part of their lives. <3

I'm thankful for my life. I know sometimes you hear me complain about things going on, or stressing over things that I can't control, but I really do love it. I love where I am at and I love my job. My family is great and my friends are amazing. I love the gospel. I love driving around and seeing the beautiful temple from anywhere in St. George pretty much. I LOVE LIFE and that's what I'm thankful for this year.

and the final landing place is.....

SAINT GEORGE, UTAH

Okay, I'm sure you're all wondering what the heck I am thinking, and what the heck I am doing. I moved up north, just to end up back in St. George!?!?! YES. You read that right, and yes, I may be a tad bit crazy (maybe a LOT), but I've learned that when I get a bad feeling about something I can't ignore it. And that's all I had last week when I was up here. I still didn't have a job, and let's just say I was an emotional wreck. I cried everyday, I stressed myself out, I lost tons of sleep, and just could not say that I was 100% positive I should've moved. Everyday I woke up and asked myself why I moved. I had 2 job interviews last week and to no avail... no job. 

Thursday my clients from Danville came up to Salt Lake for the special olympics golf. I went to the hotel to visit them and they were all SOO excited to see me. I felt so loved and they all asked why I moved and I couldn't give them a good answer anymore. I talked to my boss that night about everything and he found out about all the trouble I had gone through and said he would love if I would come back to Stonebrook and work there again. I said, get me some hours and I'm in. 

He called on Monday and said... wanna start again today? and I said HECK YES!!!!!

I am back in Saint George again. I know it's the right thing to do now and feel at peace about my decision. :) Thanks for all the love and support over this past crazy week of mine. Sorry if I cried a little bit too much to some of you, haha. 

UPDATE

So one day me and my roommates kayla and laura had a crazy idea. Let's move from Saint George we all said to each other. JObs were found, jobs were quit, jobs fell through, job interviews obtained, stresss of moving, sadness of saying goodbye all lead me to being here, on my brother's living room floor on a Sunday morning. Yep, I worked my last shift at Danville yesterday and drove up. I didn't think I had become so attached to life down there until I had to say goodbye. All of my clients were SO good my last week and were so sad i was leaving. Lots of tears were shed as I said goodbye to them and all the friends I've made over this year. Now as I try and put some certainty on my life right now, I will post some pictures of my last days in Saint George and hopefully can update again soon to let you all know what's going on in my life. Ha. HOPEFULLY. 

** I can't caption some pictures because I can't say clients names online. Sorry.

 me and micki :)

me and one of my best friends Tyson.

 me and heather

 me and raquel

Pictures....

Tuesday night I got a call from my friend Lola, who is in my pictures below, saying that Koti (the tongan man i'm sure every one has heard about before) didn't make it on his flight to minnesota that night and wasn't going to go there until thursday... so me being the impulsive person i am, bought a ticket at midnight that left for six am the next morning. i packed, showered, and got all beautifuled up, flew down to san diego and hung out with them for the day. 

We picked Koti up from work and we went to eat. the picture where I am making a grossed out face is because we are holding octopus. he's eating, i'm holding it. after lunch, we went to the san diego temple and walked around. Then we went to Lola's house and Koti painted my nails. Then we went to the beach and swam around. Spent time together after the beach and then flew home the next morning when he left for Minnesota...... (is that a good description Christina? lol Love yoU!!!)