For my family.

Thanksgiving gives me a chance to step back and appreciate the blessings and good things about life. I wrote just a couple things to each of the members in my family.

Dear Daddy,



Thank you for being who you are. Even as a little girl I came to you with seemingly endless questions. I am humbled that Heavenly Father let me be your daughter. He must have known I needed a father who would listen to me ask questions like, "What color were a dinosaur's toenails?" I am thankful for what you do for our family. I don't know where I would be without you. I love you, Daddy.

Dear Little Mom,



I can't put into words how grateful I am for you. You have loved me my entire life without question. You spoke up for me and watched out for me when I needed you most, but somehow at the same time gave me the chance to grow and learn for myself. You have taught me the gospel, but beyond that, you have lived it. I am proud to call you my Little Mom. I love you, Mama Llama.

Dear Tori,



I am jealous of how you put that braid in your hair! But seriously. I do. But for real seriously now. Thank you for picking me up for church that whole year when I lived Downtown. I don't know if I ever told you how much that meant to me. I see now how much time that took and how much you must have loved me to make that drive every week. You are the coolest, fo sho. Your sense of humor always makes things better. I see how much you care about people. It reminds me to give in to my softer side when I start turning into a bitter old lady. I love you, Tori.

Dear Caitlin,



Thanks for letting me be born on your birthday. Hahaha! Really, I am grateful for the chance we had to get to know each other after you came back from Utah. I think about how we were both super wary of the Single's Ward and everything that is Charleston. It makes me laugh now. I feel like I can talk to you about almost anything (with the exception of bathroom stuff, because I just can't get past that kinda thing). I admire your willingness to serve in your calling. You always include me in things. It makes me feel like a million bucks. I love you, Caitlin.

Dear Courtney,



When we were younger, we were partners in crime. I always get so excited when I hear you are coming back for Christmas or for a little summer vacation. I wait for you to come out of the terminal, and we walk away arm in arm like no time has passed. It sounds weird, but I am grateful that you were married in the temple. It has shown me how dedicated you are to the Church. I can't wait to be an aunt in the next couple of months. I know you're going to be an amazing mother. I love you, Courtney.

Dear Brynn,



You are very special to me. I don't know if it is because you are my little sister or if it's because you're just so darn awesome. I relate to you in a lot of ways that I can't with other people...from being able to read an entire series of books within a couple days to surgeries to having the weirdest sleeping patterns ever. There are not many people who could stand to hear my night time rants or understand me the way you do. Remember when you used to color pictures for my wall? It always made me feel so special. Thank you. I love you, Brynn.

Dear Colton,



What it IS? I know I don't say it very often, but I'm proud of you. I felt like a fussy old sister when you got your Eagle Scout. I am grateful for you having the Priesthood and for going to Seminary even when you're ridiculously tired in the mornings. I have watched you grow into a young man (fussy old sister again) and I am excited for all of the good things you will do with your life. If you ever have a dumb day, just think about that time you threw the basketball to me and it hit me in the face. :)I love you, Colton.

Unwritten rules.

When I'm on campus, I feel like there are certain things that should be understood. Why we (Trident vs. me) are at this point, I have no earthly idea.

1. I don't want to have a conversation in a public restroom. I don't care if we have the same purse. I don't care if we just had class together. I don't care if it's raining outside and you'd like to tell me how many umbrellas you have in your car. Nothing that happens in a public restroom is enjoyable to me. For my own sanity, save whatever you want to talk about for post-restroom interaction (it should be noted that any interaction between myself and previously unknown persons in a public restroom were deemed unavoidable and more than likely annoying on site)if you feel like you just need to tell me about those umbrellas.

2. There is no need to get directly behind me when there was ample opportunity to pass me before approaching a set of stairs. I promise I'm not going to get faster because you are behind me.

3. I do not need to hear the most personal OR the most trivial details of your entire life story while I am waiting for class to start. Not only does your monotone voice destroy any will power I had to pay attention in class... it literally makes me want to bodily remove you from the building. I do not care even the slightest bit about the white wolf tattoo that you have dreamed about your whole life. In fact, it makes me hope that one day your dream will be fulfilled because you deserve it.

4. But seriously...how is being rude in a check-out line going to get you out the cafeteria any faster?

5. No, I'm not changing my mind. You can't have my quizzes or borrow my notes for a week. Just...no.

6. My mind is (for real) blown on why there are group projects at all. No, I won't do your work for you. No, I'm not making your stupid PowerPoint. No, I do not care if you fail. Not even a little bit. Not even the teeniest little smidgen. So if you want a grade, you to figure that mess out.

Fast forward.

I am terrible about updating my blog. Every time I sign on (after a couple of weeks of slacking) I look at my last post and am surprised about how much has gone on since then.

I have started my first of two internships. I work on the Memory Care Unit at Somerby of Mount Pleasant. The unit is designed to meet the needs of Alzheimer's and dementia residents within the residential retirement community. I have done more in the past two weeks than I anticipated, expected, or felt ready for. I have been facilitating group discussions, preparing for activities, helping people participate in activities, reading life stories, helping cue memories, and of course, I have smiled and laughed and been surprised quite a few times. I have seen some of the sweetest things and experienced a wonderful sense of gratitude for the blessings I have been given. One of my instructors at school always told me that you learn a lot about yourself when you do an internship. I thought that was the dumbest thing ever when he told me that. I see now that he was right. Life is a beautiful gift. Treasure it with all of your heart.

I'm trying to learn some Johnny Cash songs. One of my residents loves him. I make a fool out of myself sometimes to make people smile. The other day I attempted to do the cha-cha for about 2 minutes. I'm sure it was pretty entertaining. P.S. I learned how to do the cha-cha from a VHS library tape. Bahaha.

Sometime soon we are going to have a knitting activity. Woot! Going to put those knitting needles of mine to use.

Thingsies.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I just wrote "Thingsies" as the title of this blog. I think that means I need more sleep!

I used coupons for the first time the other day. One of my friends is super talented with coupons. I don't quite have that gift, but I am trying! I have a notebook for them. On my last venture I saved $8.94. That's a start!

Also, I walked out of the house yesterday and came upon this lovely sight:

Oh, the joy of owning Waspy. I am lucky Daddy knows how to work on cars...otherwise I'd be out of luck. He was putting a blower in. I took the tinting off of the windows on Saturday with lots of glass cleaner and about five now useless razor blades. Colton did the first one and then started doing something else. I'm having a little trouble with the tint on the very back window because I don't want to mess up the defrosting...line things. Baha, whatever those are actually called.

Good news, everyone! I got an internship for the Fall semester. I'm actually really excited to start. I'll be working on the Memory Care Unit at Somerby of Mount Pleasant. It's a retirement community. I'll be working with Alzheimer's clients and clients with dementia. Bryant also got a new job at a law firm. We're both excited to be starting new things.

Also, our friend Rob McDaniel took this picture a couple months back. I don't think I posted any of them, but I think this one's my favorite. It makes me laugh.

The Wasp.

So I bought a car! It's a 1992 Honda Accord. Bryant named it "The Wasp." "Waspy" for short. It has quite a few issues (more than I thought when I first bought it)...but it works, and I have paid for it. Introducing Waspy!

It's a work in progress. When I first got it, the key was broken off into the ignition. It worked if you put the broken piece in to crank it, but I couldn't lock it. LM asked a Honda dealer for me and now the broken key is out and I have three new keys.

I went outside to go test out the new key. Look who was driving it.