Always Something Going On

It seems as though I have been ridiculously busy lately, but nothing out of the ordinary. My blog entries get printed and it becomes my journal, so here are my “journal entries” from the highlights the last couple weeks. Notice there are very few days “missing”!

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Note: Unless it is a week where I work 4-10’s and have Friday off, I normally work from 7:00am until 3:30pm. So, all of the things mentioned here take place after work if it was a weekday. So, here is what happened in my life since I blogged last:

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Thursday, Sept 16^th

Thursday night is typically tennis night when it works out. Tennis often gets trumped by stake or ward temple night, Relief Society Meeting, Third Thursday, etc, etc, etc, but on occasion we do get together and play. This particular Thursday was one of the best turn-outs tennis night has ever seen… I think at one point there were 9 of us there! I have gotten a lot of people addicted to tennis- got to love it!

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Friday, Sept 17^th

Met up with my friend, Diane, and her Mom for dinner. Dianne is a fellow Copper Cap (the Internship program I was in that brought me to CO) and we met at a Copper Cap Conference in Lompoc, CA in 2005! We met because our luggage got lost and we ended up heading back to the airport together to retrieve it. We’ve stayed in touch through the years and now she is moving to Denver- yeah! After dinner Diane even went with me to a party at a friend’s house. It was a fun evening. At one point we played 2 truths and a lie… oh yeah I have some good ones! Perhaps I will post some one of these days and see how well you know me!

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Saturday, Sept 18^th

After waking up early to get my cars oil changed I headed straight to the church to help clean. Then Kimberly, Carrie, and I went hiking and enjoyed the beautiful Colorado scenery. Carrie and I went golfing as soon as we got back from hiking. We seriously could not have asked for a more gorgeous day! We just golfed 9 holes, a 3 par course. I have realized that I am HORRIBLE at putting. I got it on the green in 1 shot, but then took 4 to finish- awesome! I’m going to have to work on that. Saturday evening was the Adult session of Stake Conference which is always fabulous. After Conference we played some nertz at Trista’s house. It was definitely a fun filled Saturday!

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Sunday, Sept 19^th

Stake Conference was enjoyable. It was nice since conference started at 10am which meant I got an extra hour of sleep! It was also nice since I got to church with Jared and Katie. It’s always fun to sit with them and their cute kids. I don’t get to see them very often it seems, so I enjoy the times I get to spend with them. I enjoyed a rather relaxing Sunday afternoon before heading out that evening to play some nertz at a friend’s house.

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Wednesday, Sept 22^nd

I work at the temple on Wednesday evenings, so I head straight from work to there. I enjoy Wednesday evenings, it is so peaceful and nice to be in the temple every week. It’s also nice to have good friends who are willing to come do a session and then meet up with me after the temple so we have a chance to do a little visiting teaching. That seems to be the time that works for me, so 9:00pm it is! I’m so grateful for good friends in my life!

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Thursday, Sept 23^rd

Third Thursday was this evening. We went to Casey’s Bistro and Pub in the Stapleton area. We experienced traditional Irish food… one friend got Bangers and Mash, I got the Boxty which was a potato pancake filled with steak, and another friend ordered Sheppard’s pie. It was fun to visit with friends who I really only see at Third Thursday. Nice to have a reason to get together and visit every so often!

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Friday, Sept 24^th

A good friend of mine, Megan Jones, is getting married soon and she asked if I could help her with bridal pictures. There has to be someone carting around the train, making sure the veil is correct, and just being there for moral support. There were 4 helpers in addition to the photographer, so this was a big deal! Good times! I would post some pictures I took, but that will have to wait until after the wedding… I would hate for them to get out and her fiancé see them- that would just be bad luck!

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Another good, good friend of mine… actually a more fitting title is one of my Best Friend, is moving. So, after helping Megan with her pictures I went to Ashlee’s going away party. I am very sad that she is moving and quite frankly it hasn’t really sank in yet. It feels like she is simply on a business trip and will be back in a couple weeks. It makes me sad that this is not the case. Ashlee and I became great friends once the Laredo Branch was formed after the singles wards were divided into their respective stake. That was in August 2004 I do believe. It is a good thing there is still facebook, phone, and e-mail to keep in touch, but a face-to-face conversation is so nice and I will miss our late night visits (since that seemed to be the only time that worked for both of us). I wish her the best, but I am definitely going to miss my friend!

Ashlee and I

Saturday, Sept 25^th

After helping clean the church I got to enjoy some tennis with Matt and Marlies. Again it was a beautiful Colorado day and was oh so nice to be outside to enjoy it along with the great company. Besides, playing tennis kept me from doing my long run, so I enjoyed it even more! That evening was the R.S. Broadcast- always an enjoyable meeting.

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Sunday, Sept 26^th

This was a day of visiting. My visiting teachers came over, then I went to dinner at my cousin’s house… Nathan and Julie invited me over. It was good to visit with them. Sad that we live in the same town and we’ve never gotten together before! After visiting with them I raced home since my Home Teachers were here to visit me.

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Monday, Sept 27^th

I think I secretly wanted to do a triathlon this day. I ended up running for an hour before meeting with the Relief Society Exercise Group and playing quad ball (a cross between ultimate Frisbee, basketball, and soccer), then I played a tennis match, then went back to the church to play a little volleyball and finished up the evening with playing a little horse (basketball). So, basically from 5pm until 10pm I was doing some form of working out. It was fabulous! I wish every night could be like that!

I even managed to get a phone call into Jess to wish her a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Sad I didn’t get to talk to you Jess, but I was thinking about you!

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Tuesday, Sept 28^th

It was such a gorgeous evening! Glad I got to be outside to enjoy it. Carrie, Deanna, and I went golfing. We did 9 holes on a par 3 course. I hit par on 3 of the 9 holes!!!! I think that is a personal best… yet I still managed to lose! I got 43 where my two friends came in at 42. I so need to learn how to be consistent. It does no good to hit par on one hole and then take 7 shots to get it in the very next hole! I’m just glad I was able to golf before heading to stake employment night. Every Tuesday night from 7pm-8pm is employment night, and since I am Ward Employment Specialist I feel I should go!

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Wednesday, Sept 29^th

I go straight from work to the temple on Wednesday night since I am an Ordinance Worker and work from 5pm until close (I am usually done around 9pm). I love it! I love escaping the cares of the world for a few hours. I love being able to sit, relax, and reflect upon things which have eternal importance. I love being able to serve and help patrons who attend. Every once in a while you get a “thank you” and it makes you realize that you were actually needed and did some good by being there. It is a great feeling!

After the temple that night I met up with my dear friend Ashlee for one last dinner at Chili’s. After all that was our tradition- going to Chili’s! It was nice to visit, but sad to think our late night visits will only happen probably once or twice a year. I miss you Ashlee!

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Thursday, Sept 30^th

Thursday is typically tennis night, unless of course it is Stake Temple Day. In that case tennis gets trumped by the Temple! It was nice to do a session tonight and go to the temple as a patron instead of a worker. I love both aspects of the temple, but sometimes it is just nice to be a patron.

Friday, Oct 1^st

Happy Fiscal New Year! I must say that being a contractor has its perks… this was probably the easiest Fiscal Year ends I have worked. Yes, I was busy at work (I still am and I see no end to that) but since I am a contractor I am not really supposed to work overtime. So I didn’t …. much! I did work some OT so I took off a couple hours early on this day and a co-worker and I went to Miller Farms. Miller Farms is a place where you get to pick all your veggies yourself. Take your gloves, take your shovel, and dig away! For $10 I got 3 bags worth of veggies- pretty good deal if I do say so myself! It was a fun afternoon and I couldn’t have asked for better weather. That evening I dropped off a couple bags of veggies to Cassie and Kirk and then I went to Jared and Katie’s and took them a bag of veggies as well.

I loved Kortni's "fountain" of hair

Look At All That Loot!

Saturday, Oct 2^nd

I began my day with a nice long run. It felt great actually! I still hate running, but I do like being in shape and able to run for 8.25 miles without struggling. I still have a ways to go if I am going to do this ½ marathon on October 30^th, but I’m getting there!

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Saturday was General Conference. So, I tried to catch as much as I could while trying to clean my apartment, do laundry, put gifts together, shower and get ready for the day, do dishes, answer e-mails, etc, etc, etc. Needless to say, I am glad the talks are on the internet so I can watch them again. The parts I caught were awesome like always though!

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In between the morning and afternoon session I had to get the projector from the church, stop at the store, and run a couple errands. Right after the second session I headed to Arvada (it is way out of my way) to attend my co-worker, Kortni’s, wedding celebration party. I promised I would come, so I did. By the time I got there I was only able to stay for about 35mins before off to my next event!

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I went straight from Kortni’s party to my good friend, Megan’s, bridal shower. The shower was nice. At least I enjoyed visiting with friends who I don’t often get the chance to see. We tied a quilt, ate good food, visited, did gifts, and had a fun evening. I left there around 820pm since I then had to head to another event.

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My friend Melissa just got a job, and that is definitely worthy of celebration. So, I put together a party of her choice in order to celebrate. She chose bowling so that is what we did! There was just a small group, but we still had a good time. Congrats Melissa!

Clay, Megan, Melissa, Audra, Matt

So, that was my day… oh wait, I did end up visiting with a certain someone until about 12:30am! You definitely won’t hear me complaining about that! :^) Needless to say I think I made it to bed around 1:15am that morning.

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Sunday, Oct 3^rd

I got up bright and early so I could finish my preparations for my little party I was hosting that day. It has sort of turned into a tradition to do a luncheon between sessions, and since I live fairly close to the church my place seems to be a good choice. I enjoy having people come over, so I don’t mind. That morning I made home made salsa (from my fresh farm veggies!), got the bbq pulled pork in the crock pot, got the projector hooked up and working so we could watch the afternoon session, and got myself ready for the day. I was pretty proud of myself for getting everything done so I could enjoy most of the morning session of conference.

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After conference we got a little Nertz action going. It is a fun game! So, people stayed until about 6:00pm and then I got to enjoy the evening. That is, enjoy the evening after getting my apartment looking semi decent again after my little party. It was nice to finally get caught up on reading blogs… I think it took me a good 2 hours to read through them all!

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So, that was my week… now we do it all over again…..

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Monday, Oct 4^th

After work I did about 40 minutes of P90X (a plyometrics workout that my co-worker let me borrow her DVD). Then I went to R.S. exercise group and played quad ball. Then I played some doubles tennis with Matt, Blake, and Trista! We played tennis until about 10pm!

At Miller Farms

Tuesday, Oct 5^th

I raced home after work so I could get dinner ready since I fed the missionaries this night. Got to love chicken rolls! Such a great, easy meal! I went to employment night at 7pm and went straight from there to meet up with friends at 24 Hour Fitness. Audra, my friend who is a personal trainer, was putting on a session, so I joined them.

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Wednesday, Oct 6th

Tonight was temple night. So, when I got home I even had a few hours to work on updating my blog!

They had all the CAR characters at Miller Farms

I’m telling you there is always something! Every day there is something… someplace to go, somewhere to be, someone to talk to, a resume to review, a note to write letting a friend know you care, pictures to upload, blogs to read, a blog to update, dishes to do, … and of course you can’t forget the eating, exercising, and reading your scriptures crammed somewhere in your day! Is it any wonder why my goal is to get to bed before midnight every night? I love my life!

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Tomorrow is tennis and then Friday I am off to Atlanta! I’m way excited to spend a few days with my sisters and the Moore Family!