I Cut My Hair and I LOVE it!

As many of you know, my Steve left for home today, and thence onto an internship in New York City. In the short time we've been dating (since Valentines day) I have gotten to enjoy his fun personality, his thoughtful actions, and his sweet kind words. Never have I felt so appreciated and special to someone (outside my family. Don't worry Mom. ;) I found with him special feelings and experiences that I hope haven't taken for granted, and will never forget. I don't know how I got so lucky to have him, even for just a couple months, but I count myself very blessed. Now as I sit here hours after our goodbye, I think of all the love and support around me during this hard time. There are countless people I know I can turn to for a shoulder to cry on, comforting words, a place to escape, a party to have, or just someone to listen. Heavenly Father is really looking after me by putting all these angels in my life. Thanks everyone.

Leading up to today, I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to handle it. I've had to do this sort of thing before, and I gotta say it wasn't fun or pretty. But after chatting it over with the Man upstairs, He let me know everything was gonna be OK. He gave me a lovely sense of peace, and helped me see that this is one of those things that is for my good, and once again reminded me that He's got a plan for me. I knew I would miss Steve, and I already do terribly, but the sting just isn't there. After talking to Steve about it, he got the same thing. It was a big comfort to know that Heavenly Father put us on the same page. Who knows why we came together when we did, or why we have to be apart now, or what will happen in both our lives in the future, but it's so nice to know that Someone better is in control, and that He put so much love in my life to help me through the tough parts. Steve, I miss you, and I hope you have a grand time in New York!

Conference Weekend

This weekend was pretty much spectacular, mostly because of the company I got to enjoy. Friday was Steve's birthday, and I don't know about him, but I had a great time. A bunch of us went to Maglbey Fresh (I think that's what it's called) and had fun eating great food and being with great friends. Afterwards we all went back to the Pirate's for some birthday cake. Rainbow chip with fun-fetti frosting, Steve's favorite. It was delectable. After that everybody ditched out, so Steve and I had a nice evening alone. I gave him some gifts: some socks(to replace his holy ones), some pens(to replace the one's he has lost during our relationship), and some Curve(to give him more confidence). I was glad to hear he liked them.
Then Saturday I woke up and my face was broken! Well, mostly my eyes. They were all red and puffy and watery and dry (oxymoronic, I know). It was awful. So I laid on the couch and slept through most of the first session. Oops! So I took a shower and felt much better. Steve came over for the second session and we listened to it on the radio. Dinner was involved sometime after. I'm sure we did other grand things, but they are slipping my mind... drat.
Anyways, Sunday I went to the Pirate's and enjoyed John Deere's home-made cinnamon rolls while listening to conference. Between sessions I got lots of coloring done for class, and stomped Steve at connect 4 (but don't worry folks, he stomped me right back later that night). He came to Grandma's house and we hung out for a good while over there. Shelby and Cari are just too much fun to handle, and we all decided that Kevin is now 24, so congrats to Shelby for catching an older man. =D When we got home, Steve helped me measure a tree for math homework, then we shared art projects with Barbara (not quite sure how that came to pass). I made Steve promise to help me get to bed earlier this week, so against my liking he helped me get to sleep at a reasonable time. But not before some sweetness on his part, and some secret Japanese dancing on mine. Maybe all that sleep isn't so good for me though, because I dreamed I was pregnant with triplets... strange...

The Weekend of Dreams...

I wrote Tim today and told him all about California. Instead of writing it all out again, I'll just let us all enjoy Tim's letter:

"Dear Tim,
I hope you are having a wonderful day so far. I just got back from a delightful weekend in California, and was pleased to have a letter from you waiting for me when I rolled back into P-town. This weekend was AMAZING! Such a nice break from school and cold weather and SNOW, which I'm rather enraged is still falling from the sky as I write. Holly Jack and her crazy neighbor Whitney and I all drove down on Friday. It was a fun drive, I didn't stall Holly's car once which I'm pretty proud of myself for, and Jack slept the whole time. It was so fun to see Shelley again. I missed hanging out with her and laughing and cuddling with her. And baby Jett is a hoot and a half! He's changed so much since I've seen him, but getting cuter every day. He's a drool machine! He furrows his brow most of the time and is rather temperamental, but he looks just like baby Shelley did, accept as a boy. It was great to see Rick too, and enjoy his deep laughter as someone says something inappropriately hilarious. Saturday, my roommates came down for the weekend on a completely separate trip, but we all met up at the beach. Traffic was crazy, but once I got there, the warm sun, cool breeze, and sandy sand healed my spirits. Good old SPF 50 saved me from any sunburn, and I came home salty and exhausted, but happy. I tried to do my homework that night, but sitting on the sidelines of a particularly entertaining game of Curses is not a great way to focus. Sunday we all drove to Pasadena where Jett got blessed. It was a short but sweet blessing. I always love to see my brothers-in-law use their priesthood. And we gathered afterwards at their apartment for a lunch/picture taking session (which I'm sure you'll get to enjoy... the pictures, not the food). Everyone was there, my mom and dad, Rick's mom and dad, Judith and her boys, my aunt and uncle and their kids, and the Utah crew, of which I'm a part. After the festivities were over, we drove down to see the Pasadena city hall, then home for a nice relaxing evening. And by that I mean furious preparations for... DISNEY LAND! Monday we headed off to enjoy the happiest place on earth. It was Holly's birthday (make sure you wish her a good one if you haven't already), and Disney land is doing this thing where you get in free on the exact day of your birthday. The rest of my family excluding myself has season passes. Darn my Utah residence! Anyways, we went and did everything. It was Whitney's first time, so we did everything, all the big rides and all the little (worth while) rides and saw the shows and visited all our special nostalgic places. It was grand! But the whole experience was quite different since there were two three month old babies and their strollers with us. My mom let all us kids go on a ride and she was watching them both by herself when they started crying. She let a stranger hold Jett to calm him down. It's lucky that everyone is so nice at Disney Land because they are inspired by the magic. But we stayed til the bitter end and had a great time doing it. We got up early on Tuesday and drove back to Utah. Uneventfully pleasant drive. But like I said, I had your letter waiting for me, as well as from my cousin Sister Diane Chatfield and my friend Elder Elliott Clare. Nice welcome home present since the weather wasn't doing much for me.
While on my trip, I had a dream about you. I wonder if you've ever had a dream yet, maybe the mission kick started your subconscious or something... wishful thinking. Anyways, in my dream you were home, obviously, and we were hanging out at a ward FHE and having lots of fun. Then we went on a walk, but we were in Redlands on our family's normal walk route, and we ran into Blaine, but he was like a foot taller than before. It was a delightful reunion. The end of the dream involved a razor scooter and some very nice drug dealers, but you were gone by then.
OK, I forgot to say this before, and I guess I could cut and paste but it would ruin the flow (or what exists of it) in the email, so here it goes... HOLLY IS PREGNANT! AGAIN! She's six weeks along with Jack's new brother or sister. She told us during her birthday dinner at Disney land. This totally blows my mind. it'll be great.
Our Relief Society gave us a challenge to read the book of Mormon from right before Christmas break to easter, and I'm just about to finish. It's been such a neat experience, because I don't think I've ever read it that fast before. There are so many crazy connections and stuff I've never seen before. It's kind of fun to just read it like a novel, and yet have the Spirit speaking important things to you. I can't wait to start it over again!
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That's pretty much the meat of it.