Okay...so I realize that my "30 Days of Blogging" that I instituted in an effort to get me to post more regulary was an Epic Fail!!!! But what can you do? Life and time just got away from me and while I could just continue on with the blogging schedule assigned in the 30 days and pretend like it hasn't been an obscene amount of time since my last post, we're just going to be realistic here and continue on with a normal boring old post. Perhaps someday I will finish up with the 30 days of blogging schedule and you will get the scoop on all those little tidbits of information about myself that I know you're so excited to hear about that you can't even contain yourself, but that day I'm sorry to inform you is not today.

Instead, you shall be getting this update! I totally, absotively, posolutely, 100% completely.....LOVE my life! :D You see...I think it started with George. For those of you who don't know, my last semester in my undergrad (wow, that's weird to say!) I took this class on Adult Development and Aging. One of the requirements for the class was what my professor termed a "service learning experience" where basically he wanted us to volunteer at an assisted living facility or nursing home, y'know spend time with the patient/residents, and then write a paper applying some of the concepts that we talked about in class to  what we actually saw in the facility that we volunteered at. I picked Courtyard at Jamestown which is an assisted living community in north Provo, I had two prior roommates who worked there and they always talked about how awesome it was so I thought it would be as good as any to volunteer at. During my time volunteering there I met some wonderful people including George. He is an 80 something year old man who lives alone with his little dog Charlie at Courtyard and would visit with me about some of his life experiences. Well, I finished up the my last semester at BYU and the class ended and I stopped volunteering at Courtyard, I intended to keep volunteering but at the start of the winter semester my life just got crazy busy with my job at the hospital and a couple of other projects I was trying to tackle. Fast forward two or three months, in March Grandpa got put into the hospital for some bladder problems he was having. Thankfully I lived close enough that I was able to go visit him while he was sick, but it got me thinking, if I hadn't lived close enough to go visit grandpa when he was sick or lonely and he didn't have any other family around, I would hope and want for someone to visit him. That being said I resumed my volunteering at Courtyard and George once again came into contact with my life. I started visiting him weekly again and we became pretty good chums. Well, Easter Sunday rolled around and I was feeling pretty down in the dumps because of some stuff that I was trying to work through/make sense of but that day when I went to go visit George we ended up talking about the Savior and he ended up sharing with me an experience that he had when he was serving a mission with his wife in which he had a dream where he saw the Savior and got to sit and walk and talk with him. It was really special and when I got up to leave that day George gave me a big hug and told me how much he appreciated and loved me (he does that every time I visit him now...which is just so adorable that I can't even stand it!) It was so amazing! Anyway, George has changed my life, he really has helped me to realize a lot about my relationship with the Lord. It just makes my day when I get to go see him. I think the love that I have for George is the most Christ-like love I have ever experienced and it has bled into all other aspects of my life. As you all know I'm pretty good at making snap-judgments but lately I've been trying really hard not to do that and just assume I know people's motives. I've been praying that I will be able to love other the way that the Lord does and that I will see in them the wonderful qualities that the Lord does. I've really just been trying to help others and be as supportive as I can of the decisions that they make despite my opinion on the matter. Anyway, life since then has just been getting progressively happier and happier. The funny thing is that I didn't even notice it really, I mean I still have my ups and downs but then there was this one day two or three weeks ago where my perspective completely shifted.
It was about a month ago on a Sunday and I was visiting George as per usual when he mentioned that he had a doctor's appointment that week that he didn't have a way to get to. I quickly offered to give him a ride. It was that Thursday and I was pretty tired that day because I'd worked a double shift at work the day before (16 hrs straight!) : O I got up and went running and then I went and got dressed and had lunch with Jim and then I went and took George to the doctor. While George was in with the doctor I took the liberty to call Nena and just chat with her on how life was. Then when George was done I dropped him off and promised I'd be back on Sunday for a visit. Immediately after that I went and saw Ariel and we went "running" which when her and I get together it's really a lot more like power walking. haha Following that I went and met Jonathan for Ice Cream at Baskin Robbin's (Which, by the way, is my new obsession! For anyone who hasn't, you definitely need to try the rock and pop swirl and the gold rush flavors!). On my way back from Jonathan's I stopped off at the store where I just so happened to run into Drew who was cooking for our dinner group that night. I helped him collect the ingredients for pigs in a blanket and then we went back to his apartment and I assisted him in making dinner. Following dinner my friends and I moved an extra table into Lacey's apartment and we proceeded to have a saloon themed poker night. Everyone dressed up in their best plaid/western attire and we got some Henry Weinhard's Root Beer (Yum!) and other snacks and proceeded to play Texas Hold 'Em from 8:30 -11:30pm when one person was finally the last man standing. It was so much fun! Anyway, it occurred to me on that extremely hectic day as I knelt down to say my prayers before bed that night that my life may not be what I imagined it would be at this point and it may not be exactly what I want it to be in all aspects, but it is still really fulfilling! More so than I would have ever believed it could be at the outset of this summer! I really do have so much to be thankful for! :) I have a great family who loves and cares about me, who have taught me the truths of the gospel, who have taught me how to care for others, who tease me and allow me to tease them back. I have amazing friends who have stuck by through thick and thin these past two or three years, who put up with my temper and other foibles,  who make me laugh and bring a smile to my face and hopefully allow me to do the same to theirs, and who have given me the awesome opportunity to be a part of their lives. I have been blessed to attend a fine university where I received my Bachelor's degree and where I will be continuing on for my Master's. I have an awesome job that I love so much; I get to go help people every day, make a difference in life, and occasionally get paid to do thing like play with Legos, color, play poker, and take visit's to the botanical gardens up in Salt Lake! I get and incredible amount of job satisfaction from my work. Seriously, back in April I was on the elliptical at the gym one day when Beat It by Michael Jackson came on and it made me think of this one day when I still in New Employee Orientation (NEO) when the unit I was observing on started playing that for the patients and the patients just got up and started dancing, I couldn't help but think at that moment that I hope when my friends who are still working on their degrees get out into the workforce that they are blessed to find jobs that they love as much as I love mine.
But as awesome as all of that stuff is and as blessed as I am...the biggest blessing that I have in my life this Gospel. It's the knowledge that if gives me that my Heavenly Father knows who I and loves me, that I am his daughter and that some day, because the Savior was willing to pay the price for my mistakes, I can be forgiven and live with my Heavenly Father again in the Celestial kingdom. I think those truths more than anything can account for my extreme happiness over these last few months. I know that they can bring happiness to anyone if you'll just let the Holy Ghost into your heart and let it sink.
Anyway, now that I feel that my ramble is sufficiently long I will depart and simply say love to you all! :D Until I get enough time to write again, which sad to say may be awhile.