Some firsts

Just realized that "firsts" is a really funny looking word. Meh. So yes, firsts. This past weekend has been full of the little buggers.

On Friday I had my first experience with box hair dye as I helped a friend highlight her hair. She handled all the chemicals (probably with good reason) and I got to pull hair out of the cap thing with something that looked a lot like a crochet hook. I found it to be an interesting experience and was amazed seeing how all those little holes through the cap became a nice all-over highlight. We also watched Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief which was fun, but not a first :) Thanks to the chief for answering my endless questions about hair. My favorite part was when she used the different bones of the skull to explain what I needed to do. Who knew dying hair could be so scientific?

This weekend I also bought a Christmas tree! Complete with all the fixins! It is my first full sized tree. I feel so grown up. There will definitely be pictures to come. The ornaments I got are all silver and blue. I think it will be really pretty but I might be just a little biased...

Another first (for the season): Soup! It is finally "cold" enough down here for soup. To celebrate, I made taco soup tonight for dinner. I have really been missing soup this fall.

I am not sure if this is a first, but today was stake conference for my ward. It was a little different though because after a pretty usually Saturday night session, the Sunday session was a broadcast from SLC for all the stakes in Arizona. It was really neat. I was able to hear from Bishop Burton, Sister Thompson of the R.S. Presidency, Elder Cook, and President Monson. Obviously the meeting was pretty great. It was so wonderful to hear again from the Prophet and other general authorities. Some of the messages that stood out to me: gratitude, covenants being likened to kite strings, don't dwell on the negatives in life, the more familiar we are with the Book of Mormon, the easier it is to find answers in its pages, serious study of the Book of Mormon will increase faith and personal righteousness, the separation of good from the evils of the world in our lives is vital now that the world is so accessible through technology, save the lost battalions (aged, widows, less active...), people CAN change, and that the language of the Spirit comes from seeking with all your heart to know God and by keeping His commandments.

Whew! Anyways, excellent stake conference.

Ok, so not this weekend, but also a first-

Funnel cake!!! Yum. I went to the Arizona State Fair with some friends last month. I really enjoyed the delicious food and the 15 story ferris wheel!


I am too lazy to make another post so here is what I did for Halloween:

I dressed up as a mad scientist for work on Thursday.
I also helped come up with costumes for a few residents. (Thanks again to my roommate who helped!) One patient was a "cat scan" complete with cat whiskers, a tail/plug, sunglasses, and a big box to represent the cat scan machine. Another resident was a golf rule officiator. She already had most of her costume which was nice. The last resident I helped dress up was a rabbit. It was a really fun day at work. There was a costume contest, pumpkin carving, music, and much more. I even won the costume contest for the staff. I still get people asking me where I got my wig. Then I have to tell them it was my real hair...

My job is going well. I am learning a lot. I have been very blessed. From time to time when working with patients, I have been able to feel a small portion of Heavenly Father's love for those individuals. It is very overwheming. If that is only a small portion of His love, how great it must be for all His children. I know that He loves each of us and am deeply grateful for those experiences I have been blessed with. If any of you are doubting His love for you just know that it is there and will always be there.

Well, that's about it for now. Hope you are all happy/healthy and enjoying the beautiful fall weather wherever you may be. I know I am. Life is good :)

Musings on the Changing Seasons

If you've ever lived in the greater Phoenix area, you know that the whole fall/winter thing doesn't really happen. This is can be be slightly disconcerting at times. Particularly if you are like me and are used to marking the passage of time throughout the year by the changes in the world around me. So I am kinda missing it. Just a little. Ok, so maybe a lot. Don't get me wrong, the weather does cool down here from sweltering hot to what normal spring/early summer Utah weather would be which is nice, but it just doesn't have that cool, spicy-smelling, leaf-crunching fall wonderfulness that I love. How does a poor, fall-starving person deal? Well I pretty much overcompensate with anything that remotely reminds me of the season.

Just how does a person overcompensate for a season? Well...

Shopping for fall stuff with me is like shopping for shoes with a dozen shoe-crazy females. I "ooo" over each cinnamon scented candle. Anything orange or fall-colored immediately catches my eye. I even went in the Hallmark store to look at fall things and I am soooo not the type that buys the cutesy stuff in Hallmark stores! I smuggled fall leaves back from Utah when I visited earlier this month. I bought a pumpkin carving design book back in September. My phone background? Picture of a yellow leaf tree sent by my dad (thanks dad!) I went on a bath & body works shopping spree for pumpkin/cinnamon scented items. I randomly crave pumpkin flavored things. It goes on and on and this is only fall we're talking about here. Don't even get me started on Christmas.

Do I need an intervention? Maybe. But my social worker roommate knows all about it and she never says anything. So I won't either. :P

Despite the lack of visual reminders, time is passing. I can't believe I have been in Arizona for almost 3 months. I don't mean to complain. I do like it here. Life is good. My job is great, but still stressful. I have been blessed with good friends and a wonderful family. I am learning a lot in my ward and really receiving opportunities to ponder on my life and where it has led me. I look forward to finding out what's behind life's next little bend. Until then, I'll just keep loving my fall from here. It's tough being in a long distance relationship. :)

Confession: I am in love with a shopping center

There are good and not so good things about most places. Take Tempe for example: the random "mountains" in the middle of the city are pretty sweet, but there is the whole over 100-degree-average-when-it-should-be-fall thing. It's ok though because having the good and bad in life helps us appreciate the good more. In any case, as I have been learning more about Tempe and the attractions it has to offer I have definitely found some new favorites.

Alright confession time. One of my new greatest loves is a shopping center-Tempe Marketplace (http://www.tempemarketplace.com/index.aspx). For those of you who know me, you know that I am not the shop-o-holic type. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy some good shopping as much as the next girl, but it was never a particular passion of mine...until now. Perhaps actually having a decent income for the first time in my life has something to do with it but wow. That place is like a shopper's heaven. It has EVERYTHING. Almost every time I find myself trying to find a particular store in my area, it ends up being at dear old Tempe Marketplace. Talk about your one stop shopping! It has Target, B&N, movie theater, Bath and Body Works, a host of clothing stores, Best Buy...I could go on and on.

Some of you out there are thinking "What gives? Why spend a whole post pointlessly talking about some random shopping center?" All I can say is that if you'd been there you would understand too.

So while others may post about a recent hot date, a boy/girl they have a crush on, or a significant other, I choose to write about a shopping center. The difference? My shopping center will never be half as complicated.

Mission Impossible: Escape the AZ heat!

Here's a shocker: it's been hot here.

So to escape the 110 degree weather my roommate, a friend from the ward, and I decided to escape north to Sedona and Slide Rock State Park last Saturday. Unfortunately there was a flaw in our little scheme: Labor Day. Everyone was trying to get out of the valley. Needless to say it took longer than we expected to get there and was completely packed when we finally made it.

So rather than contend with the masses, we found a nice little creek off of a nearby campground instead.


It was beautiful and COOL!! (92 degrees. Never thought the 90s would feel so good)


The creek was inhabited by creatures other than humans that day. It was also home to a few snakes. Yup. Snakes. One little girl thought they were particularly interesting and even captured one. She also released the poor thing right next to us. We pretty much evacuated the area shortly thereafter.

Garden snake? It has a big ole' fish in its mouth so I wasn't so sure. I am kind of ignorant about the different varieties of snake but we weren't about to take any chances.

Afterwards we went back to town and looked at a few shops. Sedona is known for red rock, shopping, and psychics. My roommate wanted a reading, but they were pretty expensive. We did find a beautiful shopping center fashioned after an old Mexican village. It was pretty cool.




The view was also spectacular. I had been missing mountains!


It was really nice to get out of town for the day!

The Move

Goodbye Utah, hello Arizona! Yes, I have officially relocated to the Grand Canyon State. I have been living here a little over a month now. Life has been a little crazy/stressful. I have had my hands full adjusting to my new job. I am liking my job, but it is still a little overwhelming at times. Since I am just starting out in my field I know it will probably be a bit of a roller coaster ride for awhile, but I am grateful for the opportunity and for a supervisor who has been pretty supportive thus far. I am also really glad to have a friend from my grad program working with me. That has been a definite blessing!


So I am a bit behind as far as blogging goes (like that's a new thing) so here is some info on the big move. Preparing was a little crazy. I was waiting for my license from AZ for awhile and I wasn't quite sure when I would actually be moving. So the weekend of the 24th of July, the parents and I headed down to check out housing in Mesa. I had contacted a few of the institutes in the area and made some calls to check out a few houses. Before going down I was leaning more towards living in Mesa because I had heard better things about the singles wards down there. Not too long before our trip to check out housing, my mom was talking to a friend about me moving down there. Her friend told her that she had heard great things about a ward located in the Scottsdale area. My mom was given some contact information for a sister-in-law of her friend as well as the stake the ward was located in. I didn't think too much of it at the time as I already had a few places to look at in Mesa. Anyways, we drove to AZ and visited some potential houses. I found one that I thought seemed like a good option, but nothing really felt right enough for me to make a decision. I was really frustrated and was having a hard time with the whole situation. I didn't like the 30-45 min commute from Mesa, but didn't have any other options to look at outside of Mesa. Before leaving the area, I decided to look at the Scottsdale ward in hopes that it might help me make a decision. I looked up the singles ward online, found the Bishop's number and called. He provided me some contact info that eventually led me to an apartment in north Tempe where a girl was selling her lease because she was getting married. I found out later that she had found another girl to fill her lease previously who had just bailed on her super last minute about a week before I called. Anyways, I checked out the place and it seemed nice enough. I even got to meet the other girl living there who would be my roommate if I moved in.

When we got back from the weekend trip to AZ I still hadn't made up my mind but thought I would have time to think about it. Boy was I wrong. I found out the next day that my license would be completed that week making it possible for me to start work the 2nd of August (something I really wasn't expecting to do). So I would have to leave to move down there in five days. Yeah. So much for some thinking time. So after much deliberation, I ended up deciding to move to Tempe and it has been great. My ward is huge, but very nice. There are a lot of older people who are finished with school and have jobs like me. I loved my old ward, but it is nice to be in a ward with more people who are at my stage in life. My roommate Amy is also very nice. Looking back I can see the Lord's hand in the events leading up to my move. I am interested to see what comes of this decision and this path that I have been led to. I know I will have many experiences that will help me grow professionally, socially, and spiritually.


My parents helped me move down and were a great help. We left the 30th of July and got to stop along the way in St. George and see Tarzan. It was so much fun! The show almost didn't happen as there was a crazy storm earlier that afternoon that knocked out the power.

We had some time to kill while waiting to see if the show was actually happening or not so some camera fun was inevitable.


I would definitely recommend Tarzan if you haven't seen it.

So that is my story. It was a wild ride and I am glad to be settled as well as grateful that everything seems to have worked out for the best.

Off to AZ!

A lot of people already know, but for those who don't, I officially accepted a position in Scottsdale, Arizona last Monday. It feels great to finally have a clinical fellowship year (CFY) all lined up! It is at a skilled nursing facility there. Another one of my classmates will also be doing their CFY there. Despite the name, most CFYs are usually only 9 months, but they want me to commit to at least a year in Arizona. I originally wasn't too excited about the idea of living in AZ, but the job offer is a really great opportunity. My CFY supervisor has been in the field for a really long time and has some experience teaching as well. So I am off to Arizona next month. I don't know when, but probably the weekend of the 24th. I am looking for housing right now but haven't decided if I want to live in Tempe or Mesa. Both are fairly close to Scottsdale. I just hope I can find some good roommates and a great ward. That's not too much to ask for right?

Summer Adventures

At the beginning of June, my family and I traveled back east for some adventures! My cousin, Eric, was getting married which was just the right excuse for us to visit. We decided to stop in Philly along the way. We flew in to DC then drove to Philly. Luckily Heather and Brian let us borrow their GPS. I'm not sure we would have made it there without it.

I pretty much love history so I was really excited to walk around the old town. First we visited Independence Hall.


After visiting a few other sites including the Liberty Bell, Christ's Church, and the cemetery for Christ's Church, we stopped off at Campo's for some philly cheese steaks. The place we went to was actually a local favorite that had been featured on the Food Network so we lucked out. They were quite tasty.




We had a wonderful day in Philly then headed out for Jersey. We actually made it there despite the best efforts of the GPS which continually wanted us to go to Elko for the remainder of our vacation. We stayed in a pretty swanky hotel. The rehersal dinner for the wedding was held at the restaurant at the hotel. The next day, we went to the wedding. It was at a chateau close by the hotel. It was a beautiful location. It was so great to see Uncle Brad and his family. We don't get to see them very often. Anne and Thatcher's little girls have gotten so big and cute!
The wedding was a pretty big shindig. It was several hours of fun! We all had a good time hanging out at our table.
The happy couple

For the last leg of our journey, we traveled to Washington DC. Although Ford's Theatre was closed, we did visit the Peterson House where Lincoln died. At a gift shop there we found these beauties

Our hotel provided a free shuttle to the metro. We did a lot of walking around the city to get to where we needed to go.
The national archives was one of my favorite places we went. We saw the charters of freedom in the rotunda and a lot of documents in the museum portion. My favorite was the Declaration of Independence, but we also saw the Constitution, Magna Carta, and the Bill of Rights.

Later we visited some of the monuments. Gotta love the Lincoln monument. That guy was pretty awesome, plus it brought back some "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" vibes.

Also on our first day in the city, we saw two of the Smithsonians. First was the Air and Space Museum.
Mars Rovers. Ugg. They occupied a good couple of months during high school that I can never get back. Thank you Physics

Dad listening to space sounds

Second was the Natural History museum
I love me some rocks and minerals. One of my nerdy loves :)
After a long day, we ate dinner at a local pizzaria. We were pretty tired
The next day brought more favorites. The Library of Congress was beautiful. Unfortunately, many National Treasure 2 references were brought about by this.

Yay! Random pic of us on the metro!
Can I just say my dad is awesome?! He got us a tour of the Capitol through Jim Matheson's office. It was a guided tour by an intern. We also were able to go into the gallery for the House of Representatives

Mom and Dad rubbing their foot on the lucky spot in the Capitol

After the Capitol we went to the National History museum. We saw some fun stuff there!

I love Rudolph! :)


So...last time we were here the flag was on the wall. It took us awhile to figure out where they relocated it.
Hmmm...President Holly....No thanks!!
Our last day, we spent some time at Mount Vernon. Alexandria is such a beautiful area so the drive to Mount Vernon down the parkway was very enjoyable. My dad especially loved the trees.

Here is the traditional picture with Dad and his rental car. We didn't name it this time.


Bet ya didn't know Washington's family had a few more members huh? I love how my dad is using one of the kid's head as a hand rest. haha!
It was rainy at first, but the weather cleared up.

Whew! That was a fun trip. Thanks to Mom and Dad who brought me along!