AN ENDING AND AN OH SO GREAT BEGINNING....

Yesterday was my last day of work with Monrovia. It is crazy how you start a new chapter in your life and find that it wasn't what you thought it was. When I first started with Monrovia, I thought it was going to be my career. The thing I was going to do for the next...well who knows how long. A couple months ago, I found that even though I absolutely LOVED all of the people I worked with and all of my customers that I spoke with on a weekly basis, I am completely awful at sales. Which I am totally ok with. I will definitely miss those friends I made while working there and living here in Oregon. A lot. Good thing there's facebook. Ha! Or I would probably lose contact with a lot of those people I know here and lose a few friendships that I have developed. That would make me incredibly sad!

So, this is the end to my life in Oregon. I am moving back to Utah for the beginning of my next adventure in life.

This new adventure is scary and I'll admit I think somewhat crazy. But I am really excited. It all started last night with the loading of my moving cube. We got everything into the garage that was going to go into this cube. I took one look around and thought "oh there is no way that is all going to fit!!!" Well, miraculously, everything minus my large TV that weighs a million pounds fit into my cube. I couldn't believe it! My friend Jason and my friend Tina helped me get everything packed into the tiny bit of space that we had to work with. Jason is a Tetris master that is for sure. The picture at the top says it all! There are still a few things lying around. Like a giant pile of clothes that I need to go through and decide what to pack and not to pack. And I have to go through some of my bathroom stuff. Oh and my shoes. That is a task I am not looking forward to. I've already packed the majority of them. It's so hard to pick and choose!!! Haha.

The next part of the adventure is tomorrow. My mom and Hollie and Karalee will be here!! I'm so excited. We are all going to play in Portland tomorrow and then we will be on our way on Saturday morning bright and early. We are going up to Astoria to see the Goonie house and the sea lions and then down to Cannon Beach to eat at Mo's and see Haystack Rock (also in Goonies). After that it's on to Tillamook Cheese Factory for cheese tasting and ice cream. From there we go to Reedsport to see Grandpa and Grandma Wells' graves and to clean them up so they look nice. We drive over to Medford from there to stay the night. Since Hollie just had Chemo a few days ago, we are trying to make sure that we break the drive up so we don't fatigue her too much. From Medford we drive to Fairfield to see the Jelly Belly Factory. I'm kind of excited...not gonna lie. Even though I don't like Jelly Beans. They just aren't tasty to me. Anyway, then we will drive to Monterey to spend time with Ty and Jenny and their kids for a few days. We will have Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday and then the aquarium on Monday. Tuesday we drive the rest of the way to St. George and Wednesday I drive to Ogden for new student orientation....

Yes, that is right, I am going back to school. Never thought this day would come. Unless I was going on to get a masters degree or something. Nope. I am working on a second Bachelor's degree. I am going to become an X-Ray technician and then go on to Radiation Therapy. I think it will be amazing! A lot of hard work and sacrifice, but super rewarding in the end!!! I start school in January and am very ready for my incredible new beginning and next great adventure in life!!!!

The Muppet Movie

Last night I decided to go to bed really early. Mainly because I wasn't doing anything and I was bored out of my mind. So I fell asleep at about 8:30. So lame I know. But around 10ish, I get a phone call from my friend Sam. He didn't leave me a voice message and I was curious why he called me, so I text him back (I didn't want him to know he woke me up. People always feel bad when they find that out). Well he calls me again so I answer this time (cause i'm still super curious) and he tells me that there are a few people going to a movie at 11 at this place called Bagdad Theatre. It's attached to a McMenamins bar. One of my favorite places to eat actually. They have the best happy hour menu and the best cajun tatortots I have ever had!!! But in this theatre, they show old movies late at night. And it's only $3. So I went last night. It was a lot of fun! I don't think I have ever seen that movie all the way through. It had a lot of famous people in it and oh my gosh tons of puns. It was super funny!! Totally did not expect that! Afterwards, we went to the food carts that were just up the street. They had chili cheese fries and tacos and all sorts of things. It was a fun night! Who knows what i'll be up to tonight!

DISNEYLAND DECEMBER 2010

My family went to the happiest place on earth the first week in December. It was the greatest vacation ever! And let me tell you what, I think Disneyland was super fun because of the absolutely adorable kids that we had with us! I am not going to go through and explain all the collages that I did. But as you can see there are a million pictures, and my family had a blast!! I can't wait until our next family vacation! I love and miss them all!!!

HERE WE GO!!!!

Well, it has been a really really long time! And I am back! I figured I should start 2011 off right with my blogging. I have done a lot between this time and July. The collages that I have put in here are not in any particular order. It's just the way they got downloaded. Because there is so much to explain. I am just going to give a brief rundown. And next time, I will make sure it's a much better blog!!! ENJOY!!

I had the opportunity to go to Salt Lake for two days. It was so much fun! I got to spend a lot of time with Ashley and I even got to see one of my greatest friends (Scotty) for a night. I miss them both a lot. So it was really great to see them!!!

This is two different events. I went to Javier's birthday party (I work with him). It was fun. And I had Thanksgiving with Michelle at her grandma's house. I loved it!

Ashley Hagen is my greatest friend here in Oregon. She and I spend a lot of time together. And over the summer, we started running together. We were sick of running around Tigard and so we decided to take a day trip to the coast and run on the beach. BEST RUN EVER! We also did a warm up hike at a place that I had found when my sister Karalee had come to visit me earlier in the summer! We followed our run up with some tasty ice cream! Haha!

Portland has it's own tree lighting. It was gorgeous. And a bit chilly. Afterwards, Ashley and I found this hole in the wall Thai restaurant that was amazing! It was a great night!

Ashley and I took a road trip for a weekend and went to visit James (my cousin) in Monterey. It was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of cool things on our way. We just stopped where ever and whenever we wanted to on our way down and it was a blast! Quick, but super fun!

Towards the beginning of the summer, Michelle's friend Jesse came to visit and he brought his friend Shane with him. We went to the Portland reginal YSA Boat Dance that they have every year and then the next day we went to the coast and drove up to Astoria to see the Goonie house. It was a super fun weekend!

This was actually last night. It was Ashley's birthday yesterday and she had received a gift certificate for a meal at Portland City Grill. It's on the 30th floor of a building down town. Gorgeous view and the food was amazing! The green one was mine. A super yummy salad. And Ash pretty much shared her entire meal with me. It was hilarious. Super fun. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!!

At the beginning of the fall at work, we have a lot of tours coming through our nursery. So, since I was a trainee, I was in charge of getting the courtyard all set up and looking nice. It turned out awesome. I was pretty proud of it. Hence why I have pictures of it! :)

Katie Curtis (soon to be my new roommate!!!) text me one night and said that she was getting a group of people together to go and see the lights at a place called The Grotto. It's a Catholic church. The lights were super pretty and we got hot chocolate and listened to a quartet since Christmas carols. It was a fun night!

In August, Gueller came to visit. It was a lot of fun. We did a lot of things at the coast. But one of the nights, we had a huge bonfire and it was tons of fun. We counted and by the end of the night, 75 people had shown up. It was great! Super fun! And Gueller and I had a fun weekend.

Britney came and visited for the 4th of July. It was so much fun! I miss her like crazy. I took her to Saturday's Market and to Powell's books downtown and we went to the Rose gardens. My favorite place in Portland in the summer! I love flowers though, so that shouldn't be a surprise.

These final pictures are from when Karalee came to visit. We went to the coast and had tons of fun and I took her to the rose gardens too. Cause she likes roses too. Not her favorite. But she thinks they are pretty. Plus I had to show her one of my most favorite places in Portland. :)

Well, that's all for this post. I can't believe I actually got all that in. There are a ton of pictures! And I honestly left a million of them out. So these are just the highlights! I am having a lot of fun in Oregon! Learning tons and making tons of friends! It's a blast!!! :) Until next time....