Christmas Break

No I have not fallen off the face of the earth, I've been busy working at the daycare and also relaxing at my parents. I have enjoyed doing nothing so much, I'm not sure if I want school to start again :P But just think in four months I will be done for the year!!

Before Christmas break my roomates, Lindsey, and I had a party where we ate way to much and watched movies all night. We even went for a late night slurpee run :P It was a good time. Then a week later we had our own little Christmas where we gave each other our gifts, I love my roommates and am so blessed that we love each other as much as we do :).

So here's the rundown of my Christmas break, pictures will come later :P

First on the weekend before Christmas we headed to Calgary to spend some time with my dad's side of the family. It was nice to spend quality time with my grandparents as we prepared the meal together. I also enjoyed seeing my cousins and their families, it's amazing how old we're all getting :P.

So for Christmas Eve we headed to my aunt and uncle's house for dinner and a program, it was great to be surrounded by family and remember the truemeaning of Christmas. I have to say my favorite quote of the night was from Josher, he was looking very thoughtful and then turned to my Aunt Kathy and said "Mom, do hamsters fart?" I'm pretty sure he's my favorite child ever :P Only a five year old would think of something like that.

Christmas Day was spent at my house with my parents and my brothers. I got a lot of presents and guess what? Santa brought me a blender!!! I can't wait to use it. I also got some books, some cute clothes, a rice maker, some jewlery, a few gift certificates, a CHI (can I just say, i LoVe my CHI), and a Sunday coat. I loved every one of them :). After spending the day with my family my Aunt Kathy, Uncle Jason, and the family came over for left overs. I love my family.

Then on Monday we packed up and went to Medicine Hat for a couple days. The majority of the time was spent on the waterslides :) That's one of things that hasn't changed as my brothers and I have gotten older, we still love going on the waterslides together. One evening we watched Tangled in our hotel room, that has to be one of the cutest movies, I'll deffinately be buying that when it comes out.

From Medicine Hat we went back to Calgary on Wednesday for one of my childhood friend's wedding reception. She moved away when I was 12 or 13 and then I found out in September that she was in the same program as I am in so we reconnected. It was weird seeing all these people at the reception that I have not seen in five years, I can't believe how old I am getting, I saw some children there that I knew when they were babies and now they are ten...it's a strange feeling :P

Now I am back at my parents house and loving it, I'll be going back into town this evening for New Years Eve and then back here for tomorrow. It's been busy but I've loved it :).

Happy New Year to everyone!!

Done :)

I Julie Marie O’Brien just finished the last of my homework! Well besides tomorrow’s observations, but those will not take long. I cannot believe that I have survived my first semester of college :) and that I pulled out with at least a B in every class, how do I feel? Relieved and relaxed :P Although I’m sad that I have to say goodbye to the children at my practicum I am really excited to be done.


What’s next for the next MONTH? Christmas :), reading, blogging, facebooking, piano, and visiting my children at the daycare. I really can’t wait to see them and be able to pick them up and give them all big hugs :). Oh and tomorrow my beautiful roomies and I are having a girls night (so excited :P) Anyways I’m going to bed…and it’s only 12:30! Wow that’s a first in a long time :P. Good night blogging world

Good Laugh

When I woke up this morning this was the first thought that came into my head; "nOoO I want to sleep longer, I feel like one of those gophers that have been run over by a truck but is not quite dead yet. Yeah like those ones that are twitching and trying to get off the road but they're half dead so they can't move and so they stay on the road twitching and slowly dieing." Oh dear...how can you tell I was tired?? :P Anyways that's all for now. I'll write more in a few days when I'm done for the semester :)

Christmas Once Again :)

There is nothing like spending the day with family to lighten your mood, I feel like this week has been horrible (read previous post) but after spending all afternoon with my family I found that I have the motivation to do everything I need to this week. We decorated this tree this evening at my parents and I have to say that is one of my favourite parts of Christmas :) I love our ‘family tree’ basically it’s not the modern organized tree, all the decorations have no specific place they are all put in a different spot each year. Each of them has a memory attached to it and every year as we’re going through the decorations it takes me down memory lane. Even though my mom was sick and the fact Chris was being dumb and not taking pictures with me, it was a good night.


I also attended the First Presidency Christmas Fireside and usual it was fabulous. I love hearing the brethren talk and how every year it seems like they remind me what Christmas is about. And no Christmas is not about the presents, it’s a season of giving and being with family. If all I had was my family I think it would still be a great Christmas.

I can’t wait for the holidays to start and to finally take a break from life. *Sigh* I just have to make it through this week first :P but I can do it!

*Sigh*

I’m almost there! I know I bring this up every time I blog but with every passing day I get more and more excited for Christmas holidays :) I finished all my assignments on time this week and I got a fairly good mark on my psychology test on Thursday. One week down and one to go. So I have to be honest I have not been going to institute on a regular basis, it just seemed like there was always homework and projects that got in the way (it shouldn’t and I realize that), but the times I did go I felt so much more enlightened, this week we talked about the Atonement and it was great to be able to spend that class talking about something that is so mind boggling that every time we talk about it there is always something new that stands out. Next semester I am going to go every week, I need to set my priorities straight.


I was amazed on Thursday how a day can go from so lame that I came home in tears to fine. So the day started out fine but as usual I was a little sleep deprived and thus every niose the children made was worsening my headache but I was fine. That is until the children had a drumming presentation, they loved it however, I did not (imagine thirty children pounding on drums for an hour…). After that we headed outside and had crying and crabby children for the remainder of the day.

I then took two tests on a row, both I thought I had studied enough for but I didn’t. It’s not that I did horrible but I could`ve done better. By the time both exams were over I was mentally and physically exhausted, so I came home and had one of those 'why am I doing this?' moments and broke down in tears for a bit. And then I prayed. I basically asked for Him to make my day better because I hate feeling sorry for myself. He did. I checked the efy website and realized that I could apply to be a councelor :) I tried but for some reason I couldn`t get past the `submit my resume` part, but I’m going to call the help number on Monday and figure it out. Then Julianna texts me asking if I wanted to come over for a movie, it was so great that of all the days she invites me over it was my bad day.

Anyways I am sorry for the depressing post; it ended up all good though. I just need to make it through the next week then I will be free for a month :)

PS: Sitting by the tree, listening to Christmas music, and smelling our various candles seems to make everything better :P

Dad

Today I am grateful for my dad, not only is a worthy priesthood holder he is also an awesome guy. Today I got the car stuck and in desperation I texted him asking if he could help me get it un-stuck :P. Not even fifteen minutes later he was there revving it in reverse, then drive, then reverse, then drive…you get the idea. It took a while and some time on the curb, there were a few times that I was afraid that he would scratch the car or Kim’s car but he didn’t, he knew exactly what to do and he got it out. I’m glad that I have him to rely on, and that when stuff like this happens I can call him :)

Going Back

I lOvE church music, I really do. Which is why instead of doing homework I am taking a while to relax and listen to some good old efy music, all six cd’s that I have :P. I love the peaceful feeling I get when I listen and the memories associated with each cd. It’s like every song and cd was at a different point in my life, so when I listen I go back to what was happening that year and see how I truly have grown.

Today I also went through my journal, I was never good at keeping up with my journal so the only one I have spans from when I was eight (right after my baptism actually) up till now. I know I should do a better job at keeping up to date but it’s nice to have all my spiritual milestones in one place. I have everything from my baptism to going into the temple for the first time, to getting my patiriarchal blessing and finally all five years of efy that I attended. There are many other milestones in between and I know there are many more to come.

The only times that I wrote on a daily basis was at efy and I have to say it’s fun to see how I changed from the beginning of the week to the end and from year to year. I know how much I grew there so I can’t wait to apply in a few days to move up from participant experiences to being a counsellor and make those experiences happen for youth. I also may or may not want to keep an eye on my brothers ;). Anyways here’s one of my favourite songs, it's from efy 2008; Steady and Sure: One By One

Almost There

Only two weeks left of classes! I am so happy you have no idea, I'll be happy to be finished and happy to go and hang out with my KIDS (yes I did call them kids and not children, I'm feeling rebelous tonight) at the daycare. I miss them so much, not that my practicum children are not good because I love them too, it's just different. My kids will always be my kids no matter how old they get.

Sidenote: Preschoolers are the best, they can talk and talk and talk forever, and the thing is, most of the time their conversation skills are lacking so when I try to add my input it throws them off, so I have learned to listen while they talk to their hearts content :).

So winter finally decided to make an appearence and cause issues for us, first my doors were frozen shut, then my car would get frosted on the inside and on the outside so I would have to go out there like twenty mintutes early just to get to school on time. Then winter decided to back off a little and cause slush...not fun to drive in at all :P. This week was the first adventure of getting stuck this winter season, somehow I drove into a snow drift (smart...) then I couldn't get out and I had people come and push me out, needless to say I'm not parking there for the time being. At least I have a car though, poor Kim has been having even more issues then me, her car just dies randomly and won't start for a while, it's bad.

So after being busy all week I finally went to Harry Potter tonight, and I loved it :) They stuck pretty close to the book so I was happy. I was not happy however that Dobby had to die, I knew it was coming but it was deffinately a sad scene. Watching the movie made me miss reading, over Christmas break I'll have to relax and read real books and not the textbooks that I have learned to love so much.

I have another thing to add to my stuff to do this week, clean my room!!! I feel so disorganized and with my room being a mess my brain is a mess too :P Luckily the rest of the basement is nice and clean :) and with our candles burning most of the time while we're at home makes it feel home-like.

Guess what? Kalina, Kim and I baked every night this week! It's so nice to prepare and eat a nice dinner together every night, it winds down the day and makes me a tad bit more motivated to finish my homework :P.

Anyways that was a really random post, sorry!! It probably has something to do with it being almost two in the morning...which means I need to go to bed or do more homework, but I'm thinking bed time sounds pretty good right now :P.

Shoes and Cookies

This weekend was long and as you saw I had tons to do but I did take a couple of breaks to save my sanity. On Friday night I went to the mall (it`s open late now that Chirstmas is right around the corner) and met up with Lindsey. We went to only a couple of stores and I found the red shoes that I have wanted forever!! So naturally I bought them...and took a picture of them in front of the tree :) After we finished shopping we headed back to my house and talked with Kim for a good while.

 After working all morning on Saturday Kim came into my room and said "We should bake!" So we did, we made a WHOLE meal from scratch and guess what? It was fantastic! We made cookies and pizza, and now that we know we can make great meals we're going to do it more often :)

Anways I need to get back to my homework *sigh* just 14 school days left!!

Just Three Weeks

I have three weeks left of classes (insert a grin here) but that means I have some major assignments due, and funny thing I"m blogging instead...anyways here's my list (all due in the next two weeks so that we can review for tests the last week of the semester :S):

- Two observations and reflections on Wednesday, Thursday, Fridays for the remainder of the semester
-Three 100 question Interpersonal Communication tests (online)
-One active listening video, evalution of how you well you listened, and an evaluation of two other peers active listening skills
-A "Who I Am" powerpoint (minimum 20 minutes long)
-Literacy backpack
-5 page research paper that is used for psychology and english
-10 page philosophy paper
-A child checklist and evaluation of the child
-Play area evaluation and two page paper
-A seven page paper about what I have learned about myself through taking interpersonal communications (which really was nothing but I've gotten good at rambing on paper in that class, luckily my ramblings must make some sense because she gives me good grades :P)
-Study, study, study, study, study, oh ya and STUDY

I think this means no Harry Potter 7 for me until after my psychology final :( well maybe, I may go insane before these next three weeks are up.Wish me luck!!

Christmas is Coming!!

As promised here are the pictures :)

Decorating the tree



The decorations





Some awesome candles Kim found :)



Our lovely shelf



The finished product





Christmas hugs :)

So they'll be more to come, because we're not done yet :P You should smell our house too, we have 11 candles burning at a time (yes it's a fire hazard) but the smells combine to make it smell like Christmas!!

School

So I only have one month left of classes this semester and I have to say…I’m still alive! After multiple late nights, numerous assignments and stressing about tests I’m surviving. No one told me how hard it is to become a preschool teacher. I have people ask “You have to go to school to be a preschool teacher?” my response, YES. Honestly people is it that hard to believe? I guess it is or else I wouldn`t get that question all time. But guess what? I have maintained a B average in all my classes! considering how well I did in high school I never expected those grades, let alone in psychology :)

There are some days where I seriously question why I am here but then I realize that this is what I love to do, and after school is over I can do this all day every day. I am so grateful that I listened to the Holy Ghost or else I probably would still be confused as I was not to long ago. Only three and a quarter semesters left!

In other news we set our Christmas tree up! I love the feeling of Christmas and luckily my roomates feel the same way. We also have a slight obsession with candles...we have twelve and most of the time we burn them all at the same time, I swear we're a fire hazard :P But hey if you smelled how the scents combine to create a overall Christmas scent you would love it too :P. When the internet works then I will post pictures of our basment suite.

Anyways I better get back to my homework...but hey I can enjoy the aroma coming from outside my door :D

Grandma Wood :)

Lately I have been thinking about my Grandma Wood, maybe it’s because I’ve been under a lot of stress with school, or because it’s been eighteen years, but I don’t really know. All I know is that I miss her…tons. Don’t get me wrong I love my Grandma Marry; she has been a wonderful Grandma and the only one I remember, she also makes my Papa happy.

My grandma died when I was two so I have no recollection of what she was really like all I have are pictures and stories that my mom and other family members told me. Yet I still feel very close to her, at times when I was young I used to have conversations with her (whether I really did or not I’m not sure but I would like to think so).

I want to know what it would be like to have her around now, to go and visit my Papa and Grandma Wood and sit on the couch while she told me stories from her life, and laughed over things that happened. I want to tell her about my life, what I am doing right now and funny stories from school as well as the daycare I work at. I want to see if I inherited any funny little quirks from her and how much I am like her.

There are things I'll never get to experience, like having her there when I get married (well she will be there, but I just won't be able to see her), having her hold my children, talking to her on the phone about life in general and just visiting her. I'm fairly sure she's around more then we realize but I never get to chat with her.

I know it’s sad to think this but would she be proud of whom I am becoming? I know she’s watching me and cheering me on as I move though my life and I know she loves me and all her family very much . I would just like that reassurance sometimes. But I know that she would never not love me. I hope to have her put her arms around me someday and say well done Julie :)

I am so grateful for the knowledge that I will see her someday and the opportunity we have of being an eternal family. I am grateful for the church and the hope it gives me that even though life can be tough we all have the potential to live with God someday.

20 Years Young

So I had my birthday a week ago Saturday and it was pretty good (besides doing homework for half the day...). I can't believe that I;m already 20 cRaZy!! Anyways here are my gifts :) (my internet is being slow so no pictures are available so here's the list:
-Some chocolate, ice cream cake, and other stuff from Kim, Kalina and Lindsey
-My mom phoned me at 8 and told me to come to my door, she dropped off some apple cider and a blueberry treat for breakfast
-A printer from my parents :D I was so excited :P
-Letters to Juliet (a really cute show :D)

I loved my birthday, it still amazes me how old I am getting. I know I'm in my prime of my life but right now I just feel like skipping all this and moving to when I'm done school as well as done with the YSA scene. As fun as the YSA scene is...I'm done :P But I will try to be more positive and go to dances and things, no guarentees that it will last long but I'll try!! haha

OCD

I am so OCD, seriously: P when it takes an hour to cut out 5 calendar pictures there is something wrong. For one of my assignments I have to make a picture file with at least thirty pictures and so far I have twelve cut out, none cropped onto a piece of construction paper, and defiantly none laminated…I might be working on this for a while yet haha. It would’ve taken less time had I been ok with a slight diagonal in my cutting skills ( no one would probably notice), but nOo I have to get it completely straight and spend about ten minutes on each one. Too bad I’m not that OCD about my room…


At least I got one thing accomplished tonight. I studied for about an hour for my psychology test coming up on Thursday. Hopefully I do well because like my instructors tell me if I don’t do well in psychology then I’m hooped :S I think I’ll do alright though, I memorized Freud’s, Erikson’s, and the Newman’s theories of development (it’s the center of everything that I’ll learn this semester and next).

In other news both of my brothers turned a year older in the past couple weeks :) I can’t believe that Eric is 16 and Chris is 14. Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday that we were making mud pies in the backyard and now Eric can date, Chris can go to stake dances and I am almost half done my first semester of College. That’s scary.

Speaking of birthdays I will be twenty on Saturday! Weird hey? I will no longer be a teenager and enter into true adulthood. Not that I haven’t already but being nineteen makes me feel young still :P. Another advantage of being twenty is that I can be a paid councillor at EFY, hopefully this year they won’t reject my application like last year haha.

Anyways it’s time to get back to work...lame :P

Life

Yes I’m still alive, I’ve just been really busy. School has been going great! There are still times when I think ‘what am I doing here?’ but then I get to practicum and realize what the point is :P. I really think that I made the right choice in staying here, this is truly what I want to do for the rest of my life….i just have to make it through the next two years.


Living on my own has gotten easier; I still go home at least once a week but I don’t miss it as often as I used to. Although it is still nice to go home and eat a nice meal and hang out with my family :)I think what makes it easier to live on my own is my roommates, we all get along really well and haven’t fought at all. It’s pretty sweet that we can hang out and talk about anything, even at two in the morning :P.

In other news I felt like yesterday was a very productive day. I got home worked on my English assignment which I am almost finished, I did my video quiz, started on my paper on developmentally appropriate practices, and went to institute. I even went to bed early! That hardly ever happens now a days. But I hope to be almost done the developmental practices paper by tomorrow so that I can watch conference this weekend :D

Ohh and I bought a new more relaible car. It seems to be working which is a good sign :P haha

Well that’s about it for now, hopefully I’ll have time in the near future to update again.

Goodbye Car

Dear Car,
I'm sorry but we have to sell you, you're just to demanding. I need a reliable car and I'm sorry but you're not cutting it. Please don't take it to harshly, I'm sure there's someone out there that would love to take you. Can't say that I'll miss you,
Julie Marie O'Brien

Moved In :)

So I survived the past week! I moved all my stuff in and finished my first few days of post seccondary education :) Anyways here's a tour of my house!!

This is my sleeping area (bedspread and rug found in Denver!)

My tiny closet

My bathroom :)

My kitchen.

My shoe rack

There will be more to come in the next few weeks but right now I have homework to do and instead I`m on here...I better go :P But I`ll try to do better at posting things on my blog. Night everyone!!!

Moving on

I am happy to report that I found a place to move into! It's not im my current ward but it is in the same stake so it won't be completly new. By this time next week I will have finished my first few days of school, be moved in, and hopefully be pretty good at cooking my own meals. I am so excited that I am moving on and vernturing out on my own, I'm sure it will be a reality check but I am ready to learn!

Oh and today I went to the dentist and had a funny conversation with him concerning my wisdom teeth.
Dentist: How old are you?
Me: 19
Dentist: Oh so old enough to get your wisdom teeth out
Me: Ya....
Dentist: It's not an emergency or anything but if ever you get bored and you have 2 ot 3 days to relax, you can make an apointment to get your wisdom teeth out (smiles really big at me), wouldn't that be exciting?

It's very unlikely that I will EVER get so bored that I'm willing to put myself through that, but I guess I'll have to do it eventually...maybe in May :P

One year ago I didn't know what I wanted.
I thought that I would be going to BYU-I for who knows what degree.
I wasn't happy with where I was in life.
Also working at the store wasn't doing much for my overal mood.

 It's amazing what can happen in one year, I'm heading to school in a week for my Early Childhood Education Certificate. I am happy with my decision to stay here and am excited to start college life!  I've had a great time working with all the kids at daycare and am actually pretty sad to leave them. But who knows in another two years I could be working with them again, I guess what I've learned this year is that you can't plan to much ahead because nothing seems to go the way you want it to. I'm not saying that I'm glad my life is ending up this way I am actually quite happy it did, it's just not what I expected :P I just had to learn to put my faith in the Lord and believe that he will lead me to where I'm meant to go.

So what ever is in store for me in the next year, what ever life throws at me, I have to trust that I'll be ready.

Summer

I realized that it has been one month since I last blogged...ooops :P Summer is almost over! I can't believe that school starts up soon and fall is just around the corner...but anyways I'll tell you what I've been up to lately.

So this month has just consisted of work, work and more work with a few ocasional trips to Lethbridge, don't get me wrong I love my job but sometimes it can be a little bit draining. As you can imagine children have a few minor mood swings. But anyways a week ago we picked my brother up from EFY and I have to say it was sad not being there with him, I went for five years and this year I couldn't go :( I love the experiences that happen there and the friends you make. Hopefully next year I can go as a counselor and then I can keep my lights on till ELEVEN THIRTY, I know it'll be pretty awesome.

I also bought a parking pass for school and am heading to the College this afternoon to pick up my books, which means I am a College student!! I'm pretty excited to start this new chapter and hopefully it will be a good one. I am most likely moving out in the next few weeks as well. I don't know how I can live at home and be able to get all the stuff done for school, I'm sure I could do it but spending 40 mintues in traveling time every day could add up.

Oh and guess what? My family and I are heading to Denver tomorrow!!! I'm pretty stoked to go (not for the drive because that will be long and boring) because I get to see my cousins again, that will be twice this summer :) Charlotte will be home so I get to spend some time with her before she enters married land and doesn't get to see us much, not that she saw us much before but you know :P.

That's been my summer, not really exciting but I did make money and am almost ready for school :). Wish me luck!

Yuck

TMI Warning; This post is not for people who have a weak stomach, so reader discretion is advised.

I've avoided blogging about this because to it's some what gross and at the time I didn't want people to know but since it's sbout the only exciting thing that's happened since my cousins left I thought what the heck. SoOo about a week and a half ago I was coming down with what I thought as a cold since I never have allergies, now it makes sense that it was allergies but at the time it never crossed my mind.

Anyways my tuesday was like any other one, I went to work, came home, facebooked for a bit then sat down for dinner. As I sat down and was about to take a bite of my chocolate chip pancake I sneezed (harmless right?) Well it wasn't harmless, right after I sneezed blood started coming out of my nose, so I went to the bathroom and tried to make it stop; normally it takes five mintues max for it to stop, not this time!!

It only got worse, it was pouring, literally pouring out of both nostils and all I could see was blood pooling in my sink. At this point (it's been 15 mintues now) my mom is starting to panic, she called my neighbour who is registered in first aid and asked her what we should do. She told us to get to the hospital to see if they can stop it. Right after she hung up the phone my dad gave me a blessing so that I wouldn't faint or something, I don't even remember much of what was said, I was kinda freaking out at that point.

So we left for Raymond and luckily I have a mother who was willing to hand me tissues and hold a bucket so that I didn't get blood everywhere, you should've seen the bathroom sink...it was so nasty. Anyways by the time we got to the ER my nose had basically stopped and all the doctor needed to do was take a look at me to make sure I was alright. Durring the time I was there all I could think was "I cannot believe that I am in the ER for a stupid nose bleed", luckily there was no one there except the nusres and doctors to see my face covered in blood.

It turns out that taking Advil really does thin your blood because a couple days earlier I had taken some, mix that with hay fever and a really dry nose and you get a horrible nose bleed. I still can't believe that it lasted for about 45 minutes before it stopped...and that I wasted a perfectly good wash cloth on my nose. I would've taken a picture but I was to grossed out to show the world my lovely experience.

So moral of the story?? Don't take Advil durring allergy season.

Recap of the Weekend

This weekend has been packed with family and fun. It started Friday night when we anxiously waited for my family from Denver to arrive at our house. Josh was the most excited to see them everytime a car passed he would get excited until he realized that it wasn't them, then he would get sad. When it finally was them we told him to get the door, he responded with "ahhh dang it!!" haha, he's a funny kid :P. We sat around and talked for a while which was great, I love seeing them and it makes me realize how much I miss them :( but at least I get to see them twice this summer!


On Saturday we prepared for my Grandpa Wood's 80th birthday party by mainly making the salads and such, Aunt Kathy did quite a bit leading up to it and on Friday night we did most of the set up so that come Saturday it would only be the last minute stuff to do. On Saturday afternoon the rest of the family arrived, except for a couple of people who couldn't make it (insert sad face here). It was a great program and and all around great evening, I'm pretty sure that despite the fuss grandpa made about this being to big of a deal he enjoyed himself AND loved his present.

On Sunday those of us that stayed the night all went to church in Cardston with grandpa, and then went to waterton after lunch. It was a beautiful day and even better we all spent it together :). I'm so glad that we have chances like this to hang out, it doesn't happen very often so when it does it's extra special.

A Great Day :)

Today is a good day, do you want to know why?? Well for starters the sun is shining and the lakes we have around town are basically gone. For the past few weeks it's been raining ALL the time, just last Thursday my boss' house got flooded and she basically has to re-build the entire basement. But we haven't got rain for the past couple days (knock on wood) so it's drying out.

Another reason why today is a great day is that Rehn is starting to be such a sweetheart towards me, not to long ago whenever I so much as looked at her she'd scream her head off....it wasn't fun :P But now she loves me and no longer screams, she actually wants me to play with her all day which makes me feel pretty spectacular. I wish I could post a picture of her just to show you what a cutie she is, but since I work in a daycare I need to get special permission first so I won't post anything yet.

I got a text message a couple hours ago saying that my cousins from the states were almost in Canada!!! This weekend is my grandpa Wood's 80th birthday so the whole family is getting together to do a special party for him. I'm so excited to see everyone together again :).

So all in all it's been a great couple of days, and hopefully I'll have more to post before the weekend is up.

New Look

I'd like to direct your attention to the picture above. I thought it was time to change the blog a bit, and while I was flipping through my pictures I found the perfect one, some delectable desserts found in none other then *drum roll*.........PARIS!!! Yes I may have been hungry while I was looking through my pictures but hey anything found along the Champs Elysees is worth looking at over and over again, right? I mean look at them! Tell me that you aren't hungry right now:P The picture also may or may not make me sad that I live in Canada...but only for a second then I come back to reality :)

~Music~

This evening I attended my brother's piano recital and realized how much I love clasical music. Don't get me wrong I like pop culture and the trendy beats that you can rock out to *side note: never have I, nor do I ever intend to, sing along to songs in public...that's one line i'm not willing to cross :P* But there is something about creating your own story that makes it great, I love hearing the different movements and being able to visualize what's going on in the story and get lost in it.

That is something that pop culture has taken, the ability to hear a piece of music and have totally different idea about what the story is then the person sitting next to you. That's the beauty in music, it's intended to be different for everyone. Even though music is always evolving and changing, by simply playing a piece composed years ago you can capture the time period in which it was written. Each era has a unique sound and each piece of music is like a photograph :)

I'll admit that it can be overwelming if played all the time but in fragments it's quite enjoyable. Hopefully in the future I can learn to play better, because it is a love of mine. To bad I have to get started on the rest of my life or else I would have continued my music education :P Oh well there's always later in life :)

Conversation of the Day

At daycare today we made flower pots and flowers to go in them for mothers day, the flowers were even made from the childrens handprints so it made them extra special. Well when one child went to take it home he threw a little bit of a tantrum because he wanted me to have it. I explained that it was a mothers day present so he needed to give it to his mom. Instead of a "ok I'll give it to her" I got "I want you to be my mommy". So I guess I have a child now....

Spring??

You know how April is suppose to be the begining of Spring? Well here it definatly is not :P This week we got hit with a huge storm, we had no power for almost a full day, no internet AND there was no school/work for me!! It turned out to be a relaxing day even if we had to shovel for hours, but I could've done with some warm food...

I woke up to find the power was out :(

SoI decided to curl up with a good book

My brothers played a game that required no power

*Sigh* it just kept falling

Cousins :)

Today I was thinking about my cousins Charlotte and Emily, maybe it's just because I see how much fun they are having at BYU together and I want in on it or just because I haven't seen them in a while...what ever it is I miss them :( They have always lived pretty far so when I do get to see them it's a pretty big deal, but at least with blogging and facebook I can see what's going on in their lives and they can see what's new in mine :P They are sOo attractive and have always had great style, and guess the fact that I love hanging out and talking to them is of some importance too.

Last time they came for a visit I remember laying on the bed beside Charlotte's while we both read the 6th Harry Potter book and since she was a little ahead of me she would lean over and say such things like "Just wait till the next chapter, you're going to really hate Snape then!!" haha. Also when I was bawling like a baby she was the only one who knew why and she was there to comfort me through the loss of Dumbldore :P.

A couple years later I got to visit them over Christmas break. And had the pleasure of being snowed in with them, durring that time I watched The Office for the first time and have been watching it ever since. While I was there I got to attend the youth New Years dance with Emily, it was there where she stood in the middle of the dance floor with her hand held up durring a slow song...it worked :P. I loved every minute of that trip (well almost... the doll head photo album in my bed was not so nice) but it strengthened my relationship to them and the rest of their family.

With us all growing up and going our seperate ways it's nice to know that no matter where we are we can always facebook or text each other :)

Easter

This weekend was great :) Not only was it Easter but it was General Conference as well, what a great way to remember what Christ has done for us. I wish I could write down everything that I learned but it would probably take to long and I may not do the speakers justice :P

One thing I will say though is that the people who spoke all talked about families and what we need to do to raise the younger generation in this world. Those who are parents have a greater responsibility now then ever before and honestly this scares me a little bit...I don't know if when the time comes I can do everything I need to in order to bring my children up in the way that I should, but I don't have to worry about that for a long time so I have some time to figure it out :P

This weekend I also read The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks, to anyone who has not read it I would highly recomend it. It's not like other Nicholas Sparks novels so you don't have to worry about unwanted scenes...it has a great message and it may even make you cry.

Anyways enough of my ramblings, I need to get ready for institute...

Spiritual Punch

This weekend was fantastic!! On top of not having to work on Saturday (which NEVER happens) I got to attend a question/answer period with Elder Bednar. Now unlike some cousins who attend BYU Provo and probably see General Authorities all the time, it's not very often that we get one here so it was a rare opportunity that I was happy to experience. This meeting was special in that instead of the usual, he talks, we take notes thing he said that for two hours we could ask any question we wanted and he would give us just enough of an answer to get started, but he would let us figure out the rest. The questions that came from this were amazing and the answers were so simple yet powerful that it was like we could've figured them out for ourselves.

One of the things I liked was how he told everyone that asked a question to go buy a paper back copy of the Book Of Mormon and highlight EVERYTHING that had to do with the question, and after we finshed go back and re-read what we highlighted then write a one page summary of all that we learned. I found that a great way to study the scriptures, it never occured to me to buy a new copy of the Book Of Mormon everytime I want to find an answer, it's something that I will try and hopefully it will be more effective then how I study now.

Some other things I learned were:
-the way to revelation will always be preapred, but rarely in the way you want it
-even Nephi didn't get the plates on the first try, sometimes we have to fail a few times in order to succeed
-deserment means to see the good in others and help them to see it for themselves
-when you turn to the Lord in prayer don't ask for something as if you're ordering at a fast food resturant, and don't expect the answer right away
-the Lord will direct your steps and you won't know why, but in the end you'll find yourself exactly where you were meant to be
-even if you've been forgiven some concequences remain, it makes us into the person we are today and who we will become in the future
-we are a jar of black sand and everytime we do something right we drop a grain of white sand in and one grain of black comes out, soon all you'll be left with is white sand but it takes time

Those were only some of the things that were said and these aren't exact quotes but rather my interpretation. Everyone in the meeting felt something powerful, and it will change our whole outlook on life. The most powerful thing was Elder Bednar's testimony...I can't express in words what I felt in that chapel as he said "I know God lives" listening to an Apostle of the Lord say that was beyond description. It made me a stronger person and reminded me that even when I feel alone and like no one cares, there is one person that will always be there.

After the meeting all anyone wanted to do was to go home and read their scriptures, like my friend said, it was like a spiritual punch to the face. I am so glad that I was able to experience this and now I can't wait for conference in three weeks!!!

More Positive :)

I have decided to be more positive with my life, yes my car is being dumb but my dad figured out the problem and hopefully it'll be fixed again by this weekend, yes I work ALL the time but hey at least I'm saving up for college, and yes I feel like a hermit and when I am invited to things I tend to use excuses like I'm to tired...ect. But I do have a great life and I am making great friends at the YSA ward, and I got into College so in the fall I'll be starting my two year program so I can teach pre-school and possibly work in a daycare.

Yesterday I decided that I couldn't avoid social interaction anymore, so after the CES broadcast I headed over to Ashley's house for the weekly games night. I usually don't go because like I said by the time Sunday rolls around I am so tired that I just want to chill at home. But since I'm trying to be more positive I went and it actually was fun :) I didn't know most of the people but I played spoons anyway and I have found that it is a great icebreaker game...let's just say I got a little intense and ended up in someones lap...but no worries we both laughed at the awkwardness of the situation.

Really??

Dear Car,
I know you must like attention but is this the way to do it? Yesterday we were good, cruising along 6th Ave and then after we parked you decided to start smoking and leaking tranmision fluid everywhere. I wish you would just work for more then a week at a time.
Sincerly,
Your Owner Julie

Yay for Dads!!

So you know how I bought a car a couple weeks ago?? well after driving it twice it went into the garage for 'simple' surgery or so we thought...turns out we had to replace something that took hours of my dad's time. It literally took him at least 3 or 4 full days to fix it but today I'm happy to say that it is fully operational!!! AND it didn't cost me a fortune because I have dad that can fix cars. I'm grateful that he did that for me and even helped to pay for some of the surgery, it's a good day :)

More Independence

For the past little while my parents and I have had a fun time trying to share two vehicles between the three of us. With my mom in a stake calling and my dad now in a calling that requires him to go to meetings we decided that it was time for me to have my own vehilce. Well guess what? I bought one this week and after a few issues with the insurance company taking their sweet time I am proud to say I am the owner of my very own car :) it's not overly fantastic but it will get the job done. I would also like to mention that I payed for everything myself, so I guess i'm broke again...ohh well it was worth it :P

Getting Closer

Yesterday I finally went to the College and paid my admission fee, that's right I am on my way to attending a post secondary institution!! It's kinda scary but for once in the past year I finally feel like this is where I am suppose to go, why I'm not sure but in time I'm sure I'll find out. All I know is that this is the best I have felt about a university (well I guess it's college but whatever :P) since I've started thinking about the rest of my life. I applied to the Early Childhood Education program so that one day I can either work in a daycare as a level three or teach pre-school :) if I want to teach I actually have to take an additional 2 years at a university but that's fine by me!!

December Recap

Wow time seems to move at a very steady pace, we're already into 2010!! So December was a very busy month and deffinatly did not feel like Christmas time :( I was working two jobs and trying to balance a social life (but it seemed like work took over), I now have a fantastic job at the Day Care close to where I live and it never ceases to be boring. There are some days where I feel like sticking the children in a room and leaving them there but then there are days where I absolutely love them.

When I finally did get a break from work it was Christmas (literally I worked at my other job until 6 on Christmas Eve). After I finshed up work I headed to my aunt and uncle's house where we had a program and that was fun. I love spending time with family :) On Christmas day we headed up to Calgary to spend some time with my dad's side of the family. It was truly amazing to me how every year our family grows and changes, my cousin was even commenting how soon i'll be bringing a new boy into the family...I don't think it will be that soon but you never know. All in all it was a good Christmas filled with family and less arguing then usual.

New Years Eve wasn't all that fantstic, I headed to the YSA dance and it was alright, it was all new to me so I didn't know what to expect from it. It was lame because we barely had a countdown and when the clock struck 12 we had a garbage bag of balloons fall from the roof and that was it...HAPPY NEW YEAR haha, there were some couples who were making the best out of their new year...yup next year I don't think I'll be attending :P

So with that I want to wish everyone a wonderful new year!!