A1 Sauce

Once upon a time there was a man who was full of patience and kindness. He had will power made of steel. He was a great leader. But, he really sucked at playing Blink. He could cook great pot roast and even get people to like gravy. He's the kind of man that cleans snow off of a girls car without her even having to ask. He's also the kind of guy that listens to Taylor Swift in his car, without a girl present. Hmm... a rare breed indeed.
Hello Kansas!

Roses Are Red, Steak is Too

Wedding receptions. What a fabulous excuse to buy a new dress, get beautiful roses from a great guy, and eat the most fantastic steak ever (seriously, I think I'm in love with it!)

Grateful

On this Thanksgiving Day, I have so much to be thankful for. Although, if I were to try to list everything that I'm grateful for, I'd be typing indefinitely. I'll try to limit myself.
I am grateful for:

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so blessed to have this sweet gospel in my life. I am grateful for the peace and comfort that it brings.
• Rachel. I was really unsure of how things would go when she came out here. But, against my preconceived ideas, we have become best friends. I am so proud of her and I love having her in my daily life. Even when she insists on crawling into my tiny bed with me (and gives me Reese's and then takes them away, like she just did).
• The United States of America. No, it is not perfect. But, I am so thankful and proud to be called an American. We have so many freedoms in this nation! Just take a moment and think of how wonderful it is that we have religious freedom. There are so many out there who aren't able to have this same freedom. I know that our forefathers involved the Lord in the founding of our country.
• The great people that I have met here. Influential, uplifting, motivational, kind. They are wonderful.
• Friends. I have such great people in my life.
• Bubble baths. What a fabulous pleasure in life.
• Utah Valley University. Although it is costing me three times as much as what BYU-Idaho did, I am grateful for the things that I am learning here.
• Music. It's good for the soul.
• Turkey! I couldn't forget that today.
• Family. The best for last. I am so glad that I was given this family. They are so wonderful. It gets a little crazy sometimes, but it's worth it. I am grateful for my eternal family.

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Cold Toes

Here's another random one.
[commence rambling]
I tried Peach and Mangosteen tea; smelled great, didn't taste so great. There was supposed to be a huge blizzard here tonight ("biggest in the past 25 years"), didn't happen. My roommate has pneumonia, poor thing. She's been hurting and incognito for about a week now. I think I might be starting to get sick too. I can't afford that. I won't even have insurance for another month. My super duper bumble bee socks are not keeping my feet very warm right now. I was really excited for the snow. I made a gigantic pot of vegetable soup on Sunday.  Rachel is thinking of going abroad with ILP. I cannot believe that. Can. Not. Did you know that guys usually fall in love faster than girls do? What do you do when that happens? Did I already mention that my feet are cold? Channing Tatum is so beautiful. I would not consider myself to be a Harry Potter fan, nor am I anti. But, I went and saw the newest movie this past weekend and it was absolutely phenomenal. I'm contemplating doing a little Black Friday shopping this year. This is something that I'm usually against. I have so many books that I want to read right now. I have a huge final presentation next Monday which means that I'll be spending time on my break working on it. I hate it when that happens. It's called a break for a reason. One of my friends is thinking of volunteering to go back to Iraq again. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I already haven't seen him in two years. I might not be able to go home for Christmas; we'll see what happens. I want a baby. My best friend has a brand new niece! I was really excited for the snow, but laying out on the beach sounds wonderful right now. I miss my queen size bed. I still can't believe that my video won the competition at work. I cry almost every time I watch it. I want to go shopping. Gordon B Hinckley was such an amazing man. I love pulpy orange juice. Bubble baths and mud masks are amazing.
[commence bubble bath]

Words From the Weekend

The bad. The good. The bitter. The sweet. Things that were said to me. Things that I said. Things that I wish I would've said. Words from this weekend.

"I know why you think I'm so cocky. It's because you have low self-esteem." -KD

"All you are is mean and a liar and pathetic and alone in life."- Taylor Swift

"I put up with you because I think I'm falling in love with you."

"Aim high, but do not aim so high that you totally miss the target. What really matters is that he will love you, that he will respect you, that he will honor you, that he will be absolutely true to you, that he will give you the freedom of expression and let you fly in the development of your own talents. He is not going to be perfect, but if he is kind and thoughtful, if he knows how to work and earn a living, if he is honest and full of faith, the chances are you will not go wrong, that you will be immensely happy." - Gordon B. Hinckley

"What a beautiful place to be. With friends." - Dobby (HP7)

"You can take his ego and caress it or you can crush it."
"My natural man is an idiot!"
"Girls, remember, nerds make the money!" - [stake] President Livingston

Sometimes all you can do is laugh.

PS- I won the video contest!! Which means a new iPod shuffle for Shaila! Weee!

ILP Video Competition

I've been wanting to do something like this since I got home from China. But, having a video competition at work finally gave me the incentive to do it. Lucky me, I have a friend with a cool Mac. Enjoy!

Sunday Checklist

• Talk finished? - Check
• Yummy left-overs for lunch? - Check
• Successfully made chicken & broccoli casserole? - Check
• Fabulous music fireside? - Check
• Watched a Christmas movie a couple of weeks early? - Check
• Wrestled and laughed until I almost cried?- Check

• Ready for Monday? - .... Mm, no thanks.

Sometimes (cont.)

And then sometimes you'll wonder why in the world you even bother with some people.

Sometimes

Sometimes it's okay to have milk and Oreo's for breakfast. Sometimes you will be the only one who really cleans the entire apartment. Sometimes when you put your iPod on shuffle, it will play the perfect songs. Sometimes you just need your best friend. Sometimes you'll accidentally hurt people. Sometimes you'll forget to put on deodorant. Sometimes you'll get extremely excited for someone else's future adventures. Sometimes your mood can change in a second, even if it's over something trivial. Sometimes people will tell you exactly what you need to hear. Sometimes it hurts to let yourself relive the past. Sometimes it's really good. Sometimes you just need to suck it up and throw away that nasty, black, molded pumpkin, even when it's not yours. Sometimes you'll want to run away. Sometimes you just need to soak and listen to Norah Jones. Sometimes you need to take a step back and look at things from another person's eyes. Sometimes you'll want to give people what you can't. Sometimes you'll have to pray really hard for patience. Sometimes you just need to step out into 35 degree weather in shorts for a minute. Sometimes you just need to sing really loud. Sometimes you need to stand on a mountain. Sometimes you'll laugh really hard, and everyone else around you will keep a straight face. Sometimes things won't work out the way that you want them to.
But, sometimes they will.

Last Minute

::ring ring::
Hello?
-Hi, is this Shaila?
Yes, it is!
-Hi, Shaila. This is Brother Scott.
Oh, hey! How are you?
-I'm good.. Hey, can I ask you something?
Sure. ((please don't ask me to speak at church..))
-Have you had a chance to speak in Sacrament meeting in our ward yet?
....No
-Would you like to?
...Are you asking me if I'd like to, or if I will?
-Of course I'm asking if you will!
...Okay. When?
-This Sunday.
What?! ..Okay.
-And since it's so last minute, you can pick what you want to talk about. Pick any conference talk given during this last Conference.
..Okay.
-Thank you, Shaila.
No problem. Buh-bye. ::hang up the phone:


Dang it!

Too Good

You've all heard the phrase. "It's too good to be true." Well have you ever encountered something that's too good to not be true? I believe that I might have stumbled across just such a thing. Yesterday was one of the best days in a long time. I can't even think of the last time that I've been happy for an entire day. Our ward's testimony meeting was powerful. Each member in our bishopric is just truly amazing. Especially our bishop. And there are so many individuals in our ward who are equally amazing. One of which is my sister. I am so proud of her. Basically, I'm just blessed to be surrounded by such great people.
Over the past couple of days, I've started reading to people. Sometimes, without real consent. But that's okay. Part of it was just practice for an assignment that I had in my Children's Literacy class today. The other part is just that I like sharing stories with people. So, after church yesterday, that's what I did. I read aloud. From a children's book, of course.
Later, I was able to attend the CES fireside by Elder Ballard at the Marriott Center. He is, yet another, amazing man. His talk was great. The night was great. The people surrounding me are great. Fabulous, actually.
Then, as if yesterday wasn't great enough on it's own, today turned out to be pretty good as well. I managed to let Rachel and a friend talk me into getting up and going to the gym this morning. At SIX THIRTY AM! Let's just say that I wasn't too enthused. But, as I'm sure most of you know, it didn't take for longer for those good feeling endorphins to kick in. I was wide awake and full of energy. Alive.
All of my classes were great today. Institute, Stress Management, Children's Literacy, Powertone. All of them. Although, I may not have had that thought during Insanity in Powertone tonight. And that's exactly what it was; insanity. I'm one big, jelly legged mess now. Still happy about it though.
We had a stake FHE tonight. President Livingston is also an amazing man. He just really connects with all of the people in our stake. I love it.
Well, I think I'll step down from my soap box now. I just wanted to share this pure-joy-kind-of-feeling while I had it.
Oh, but I do have one question. Are all men impressed by girls who will not only order but, also eat an entire steak? Just curious...

PS. My sisters are so cool.

While It Lasted

"Today is one of the last nice days we'll have," said Jan, my Stress Management teacher. So we took the class outside. She thought it would be nice to do this next section of meditation in some fresh air.
The orange leaves were falling everywhere. The sun was starting to make it's slow descent.
She had us all lay down in the grass, making sure that we had enough room to stretch out. "Today, we are going to do complete muscle relaxation," she announced. This just meant that we'd tense up different muscles and then let them relax.
We started with our legs, then butt, stomach, arms, back, neck.. slowly moving to different facial muscles. With each muscle group, I could feel my body slowly melting into the earth below me. The grass was tickling my arms. I could feel the warmth of the sun kissing the right side of my body. I could hear people laughing as they passed by on the sidewalks.. probably at us. But that was okay. I started to go into my own little world. Barely being able to hear what Jan was telling us to do.
Next thing I know, class is over. I stood up and grabbed my things and started to walk down the hill, feeling completely relaxed. I took a deep breath of the autumn air. Then my slick, hard plastic, zero tread shoe met this..

Down I go. Laid out by this stupid little electric box cover. Grass stain on my khakis, which I only wear probably three times a year. My whole body was so relaxed, dang it! .... Well, it was good while it lasted.