a tall personality

Sorry, it has been a few days!  I went to Idaho to visit this precious little thing. This is baby Anders, he's my best friend's little boy so I consider him my nephew.  He's like my nephew in law?  He's an adorable sweet little baby who didn't mind a stranger without much experience with itty bitty babies holding him a bunch!  So cute and fun to visit! I also came to see this guy!  Bennett is a rambunctious, witty (for a 3.5 year old), energetic, brilliant kiddo!  He told me the difference between protein and carbohydrate, beat me in memory, and he had me read him the whole Friend magazine twice.  The second time through he told ME all the stories.  Also he calls me "Auntie Sarah" which basically gets me to do whatever he wants! This morning doggie pile/snuggle was too cute (probably not Kaela's favorite picture but I just loved this moment!). We ate delicious food (ALWAYS delicious with Kaela), played at the park, wen...

Yesterday I tried to fix something myself on my car, ended up breaking it worse (surprise) and had to take it to the dealer.  At first they wanted to charge me a lot of money when I didn't really think was that hard to fix.  When I told them I thought they were full of it, in so many words, they made some calls and did it for much cheaper than they originally said. I would say that was a good experience compared to what happened today. I took it to a Jiffy Lube to get it tested for safety and emissions.  Here's a bit of the conversation about my breaks. So they showed me the breaks and how they measure them and how they pass... "So breaks that are 3 mm we advise you to change them, but you'll still pass, yours are all looking pretty good." "Oh ok, can we check all four because I'm hearing some grinding coming from somewhere." "Oh yeah they all look ok.." two guys exchange glances, guy who doesn't have the measurin...

 I really love Saturdays.  Wake up early, do laundry, get tons of stuff done, then play frisbee for hours.  It's perfect.  I especially like it when it works out so that my friend drives my car home and I ride on the motorcycle :) Mika loves to sit right on top of my clean folded laundry waiting to be put into drawers. Last night a friend and I ate probably 2/3 of a frozen pizza.  It was a late late night (we didn't even eat until 11) so I didn't bother to cover the rest of the pizza before I went to bed.  When I woke up it was GONE!  At first I thought maybe I woke up in the middle of the night and ate it and didn't remember.  Definitely not impossible...but you would think I would remember that. Then I found some crust on the ground.  And a mangled piece of crust left in the pan.  The evidence is starting to point to MIKA.  I couldn't 'believe she could eat that much pizza, crust and all so I looked all over my ...

Thursday I went on one of the most awesome super fun mega dates ever in history.  We went skiing.  At Deer Valley.  For free :)  I always feel kind of guilty about elaborate dates because even though they can be so much fun I know they are usually so expensive!  This one was super cool for lots of reasons but one of the reasons I could just relax and have a great time is because Chase works for Deer Valley so most everything was free :) Chase made a delicous breakfast and put mine in my own paper sack, with my name written on it.  Seriously, who does that?! Blueberry Mormon Mojitos with lunch.  That's a real fancy drink, and it had lots of real blueberries in it which I was pretty excited about.  I was so classy and used my straws as chopsticks to eat the blueberries.  Chase doesn't judge, and that's probably a good thing. It was a super beautiful day, and warm enough that we were never really worried about g...

This morning at 7:30 I went to my new job site to get  drug tested.  This is the second time I have tried to do this.  The first time I failed because I couldn't find the right place in time before my other job started.  So I had to call and reschedule. So this was the second try. But I forgot to drink water that morning.  Apparently they don't like that so much with drug tests.  It looks like you're being sneaky so they make you not leave the little room the drug test is in and drink water forever. So I drank...and I drank and I drank.  When I finally was ready to try again the lady asked me how many glasses of water I had consumed, as 4 was apparently the max.  I was like ummm yes I definitely drank 4.  I didn't tell her about the other 5 or 6 I consumed in addition to those 4. I arrived at my other job an hour late, and there was no cell service in the little room I had to stay in so I couldn't tell anyone. Good think no one n...

So, like I said in the title, days are getting busy and this is getting harder to keep up with! Grateful things 1: The awesome weather that we have been having and the bad weather we're about to have because I'm going to go skiing on Thursday :) Oh yeah. 2: New job opportunity at the U, I get to keep my already awesome jobs and also experience a new one.  Best of both...ummm all three worlds. 3. I skyped with my sister and saw Sadie for the first time!  She's adorable.  Like super super adorable.  And so is Hailey, she was dancing around like a crazy girl and I just love her! That's all folks

Mika rreealllyyy wanted to go outside today.  She is such a cool cat.  When I need her to come inside so I can leave I just stick my head out the door and call her name.  Nine times out of ten a few minutes later she is at the door meowing.  Seriously, she's a like a dog without all the work. Today was another beautiful day, and like Mika, I didn't get to go outside as much as I would have liked.  I did go to a picnic in the park in the evening which was fun!  I am finding it interesting that as I get older...and maybe this is a Salt Lake thing, but there is so much less of the 'cool groups' hanging out together and so much more of people really trying in earnest to meet new people and get to know them.  I think a lot of that is driven by wanting to date.  I still find it a little...staged sometimes but I definitely prefer it to feeling left out of 'cool groups!' Grateful things: 1. The members of my church.  From the outside m...

Saturday was my second day off in 18 days!  ugh!  That's too long to work in a row. It was a beautiful day and so I did my two favorite things Frisbee And hike with Lil! Grateful things (Friday and Saturday) 1. My mom's birthday was Friday!  She is so wonderful and I'm grateful that she and my dad can be there for my sister and her family as they're adjusting to life with Sadie. 2. I got to hold another friend's little baby.  She was so cute and it has been sooo amazing to watch this particular friend grow up and pull through very difficult trials to create a happy little family of her own. 3. Park City. Man that place is beautiful and interesting and delicious and fun and just cool.   4. Hanging out with friends at frisbee and staying a little after to get some practice in.  I'm rusty. 5. Opportunities to teach...and creating my own opportunities to teach about things I believe in and am passionate about . 6. H...

I seriously think this is one of the best songs ever written and ever sung.   As I, turn up the collar on  my favorite winter coat this wind is blowin' my mind. I see the kids in the street with not enough to eat,  Who am I to be blind,  pretending now to see their need? I say that last line to myself almost every single day.   I'm a social worker, ya know? I feel the message of this song in my bones. I have mentioned this before, I really feel like the world has invested in me.  I think the world has invested in everyone.  I owe it to EVERYONE and to myself to be the very best me I can be and do something to make the world better.  On some level I think that's why everyone who invested in me did it.  They thought, they hoped that somehow they could make a difference in the world because I might make a difference to the world. I've been a victim of  a selfish kind of love,  it's time that I rea...

My thoughts today have been mostly about my new niece, Sadie!  I looooovvvveeeeee this picture so much!  I think I can see Hailey (big sister) connecting with the the new baby who is going to be her little sister forever, and I hope her best friend. Hailey and Sadie are almost the same distance in age that Annie (their mom and my older sister) and I are.   Having Annie as my sister is and always has been a HUGE blessing in my life!  And I hope with all my heart that they can build a relationship like Annie and I have. Some nights, so late, I would knock lightly on Annie's door, come in and sit down on her floor.  We would talk until late...late...late... about what should we do about a fight with mom and dad, or about a hard assignment, or a struggling friendship, or boys, and even really life shaping things like what we thought about drugs and alcohol, and of course religion. We did this from the time we were pretty little until Annie lef...

I wanted to really take time to write this...but I ended up getting it down without much editing. Revelation. Sometimes it’s right.   Sometimes it’s not.   Man, that’s frustrating. So I know that it’s always supposed to be right, like if you know it’s true from God then it’s true.   But sometimes this happens to me.   I feel distinct revelation.   Clear as day. An impression that I have no doubts is from the Spirit.   It’s identical to countless other piece of revelation I have had before.   So I follow it.   Except it’s not right.   And then things are not right.   And it’s very confusing.   And I’m all Heavenly Father, what the?!   COME ON!   There are sooo many stories about people who really sacrificed to follow their impressions of the Spirit and it just works out so great for them and for me it IS NOT WORKING OUT SO GREAT. So I had a chat with my bishop about this, and he said he has had the same experie...