Happy Birthday

This is such a special day. There is no day greater than today. What could it be? If you know me well enough, you guessed it even if you didn't remember.

Today is my birthday!



Yippee! I am so excited.
I like my birthdays every one.
Yes, I stole that line.
I'm having a party tonight at my parents' house. If you read this and live within 87 minutes from my parents, I expect you to be there!

I must now rest. I'll need my energy. It's takes a lot to be the most amazing 26 year-old west of the Mississippi.

Now Playing

I attended Les Miserables at Tuacahn tonight. I have never seen the show before. Overall I was pleased. I'll save the complete review for another time. My favorite part of the whole evening was this line:

"You play a virgin in the light but need no urgin' in the night."

Stop by and enjoy the music

I'm sure you noticed the playlist at the top of my blog. These are some of my favorite songs from before I was born. I like these songs so much that any time I use my computer, I open my blog in a new tab or window and let the music play in the background. Running iTunes seems to slow my processing speed down, so this is a far better option.
When I grow tired of these songs, I'll create a new playlist. I'm sure the next one will be music from the 80s.
Stop by and enjoy the music any time you want.

Read The Spectrum

Check out today's paper for the article on my summer camps. It's on the front page of the Southwest Living (feature) section.
For those of you who aren't local, you can read the article online.
It fills practically the whole page. I couldn't be more pleased.
Check out more pictures and information from my most recent camp here.

I am grateful

I expressed some bitterness today, and my sister said that she wished I would use that energy for something else. I am going to expend some energy listing just a sampling of the things that I am grateful for today.

I am grateful for my friend, Jodilyn. She was on my mind all day since it is (or was since I'm burning the midnight oil) her birthday. I was privileged to get to know her when she was elected president and I was elected vice president of our Elementary Education cohort. I'll admit it. At first I thought she was being ridiculous with all the crazy things she wanted to do for our cohort. Who has time for all that? I sure didn't. Fortunately, we began to balance each other out. I soon learned that she wasn't being ridiculous; she is just so darn compassionate and enthusiastic about serving others. I began turning to her with school related questions and requests for assistance. Soon, we began sharing our lives with one another and became the best of friends. There is much joy and love in my heart every time we do something together. She is a treasured friend and confidant. I am grateful for Jodilyn.

I am grateful for my family. I called the house looking for some love and found my sister and mom available and willing to go for a Sunday evening drive. We picked up my sister's friend and began our adventure. Time spent with my family lately has been amazing. Since my little sister got home from her mission, we've randomly (not scheduled) spent evenings together. It is the most fun I've had in a long time. Being with my family makes me incredibly happy. I am grateful for my family.

I am grateful for this beautiful world. For our Sunday afternoon drive, we went to Snow Canyon State Park. We went on a (Sunday-appropriate) short hike and admired the beautiful world that God has created. It was so very peaceful and absolutely beautiful. I took a lot of pictures (for a gift I'm working on for Jodi's birthday). Taking the photographs made me appreciate more the beauty of that which surrounded me. I could have gone through countless rolls, because everywhere I turned I noticed more and more beauty. I am grateful for the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the earth.

I am grateful that I solved the mystery of the missing debit card. I have been looking for my debit card all week long. (I didn't realize how few places take checks these days.) I picked up a few papers that were on my bed side table and saw what I thought was my debit card fall to the ground. I searched the floor and only found a cool sticker of the earth from space. I figured that was the blue I had seen fall to the ground. I crawled back up on my bed, and there was my debit card resting on the bed frame. I am grateful that mystery has been solved.

I am grateful for callings at church. I got sustained today as a Sunday School teacher. I am so tickled since this is a dream calling of mine. Hopefully, I'll teach next Sunday. There is another teacher, so I won't get to teach every week. Nonetheless, I am excited. I am grateful for opportunities to serve at church.

I could go on forever. I am so very blessed.

Maybe it really is WHO you know

The Spectrum is going to send a reporter and photographer to my camp on Monday to do a story on Aggie Adventures. It is a result of emailing a former Relief Society President of mine. The story will run on Monday the 23rd. I'll make sure I have a link to the story on the blog.

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Happy Birthday, Amy!
My dear older sister turned 28 today.
She sure is a joy to have around.
Will, Amy, Casey, and I all went out to lunch together.
I do love my brother and sisters very much.

Aggie Adventures has begun

Camp Slimy, Gooey & Disgusting started on Monday. The experience has been great. I have nine kids ranging from 8-11 attending this week. They are crazy but a lot of fun.
As the name suggests, we have been learning about everything gross. The first two days were spent discussing the disgusting things about our bodies. We answered the questions what is that oozing from my body and why does my body do that.
I can't even pick out a favorite activity. I have enjoyed every single one of them. We made fake blisters and wounds yesterday. As you can see, our campers are ready for jobs in Hollywood makeup.

Bugged by recent discovery

I arrived home in the wee hours of the morning after babysitting for a friend. I opened my closet to pull out some pajamas. I was bugged to discover an infestation of ants. (Pun intended.)
The ants were marching one by one up the corner of my closet. They had reached the first shelf of clothes. As you can see, they were making themselves at home. I am normally a great hostess, but ants are not welcome house guests.
I considered waiting until after church to take care of it since it was such a late hour, but I just kept having visions of a scene from the latest Indiana Jones flick. Although I knew these ants couldn't pull me into their hill, I didn't want to know how many ants would be around after so many hours.
Begrudgingly, I drove to Wal-Mart and purchased ant spray and deterrent traps. Even now, my closet and clothes smell of that awful scent.

A delightsome weekend

Casey freely shared stories from her mission. She busted out the photo album and captured the attention of everyone that walked by.




We had quite a crowd that gathered. The group picture is the family photo. Of course there were a few taking naps--young and old alike--who aren't pictured. This is the greatest number of Gauses we've had together in a long while.



















As you can see, the weekend was somewhat exhausting. Casey took a short nap in the only place she could find solace, my mom's bathtub, while I finished doing Amy's hair.
I was holding Grant, my cousin's son, while he struggled to stay awake. It wasn't long before we were both asleep.

Welcome Home, Casey

Hermana Casey Gause returned from the Texas-McAllen Mission last night, Thursday, May 22, 2008 at 8:30pm.

We were all so happy to see her. In attendance was her immediate family: Barkley, Donna, Will, Amy, and Katie. She met her brother-in-law, Joe, for the first time. Also there were dear friends and recently returned missionaries: Lacee, Deon, and Jared. Sheila, my mother's friend, also came. Lacee's parents, Sue and Randy, proudly welcomed Casey home.

The video contains pictures of the event. The music, two John Denver hits, are sentimental. "Take Me Home, Country Roads" was the last song Casey listened to before she was set apart. We also played it on the ride home after she was released. "Annie's Song" is a favorite sung often by Casey, Lacee, and Deon.

Welcome Home, Casey. We are so glad to have you back.

Delayed reunion

Casey was scheduled to land at 6:25pm. She missed her connecting flight in Salt Lake City. Now, she won't land until 8:40. Oh, I wish she'd hurry up and get here already!

Welcome home, Lacee

My little sister's best friend returned from her mission yesterday. Lacee and Casey both entered the MTC the same day. I could hardly believe that Lacee was back. I was bawling. I can only imagine what it will be like on Thursday.

Trendiness demonstrated through this Tag

I feel like if I don't respond to the tag it'll be like breaking a chain letter. I don't want that curse on my head.

10 years ago:

I was in high school transitioning from super shy friendless girl at my millionth new school to the ever changing person who has turned out to be me. *Note: I have changed since I typed this message. Hopefully it is for the better.

5 things on my to do list:

Decide whether I'm still going to work my office job.
Finish cleaning out my stuff at my mom's house.
Register for the Praxis.
Learn to Yodel. (This is my goal every morning. I just don't know how to go about accomplishing it.)
Learn my roommate's name. (There's one girl I have seen at least a dozen times, but I don't even know her name. Oops.)

5 snacks I enjoy:

Watermelon
Strawberries
Otter Pops
Popcorn
Chocolate

5 places I've lived:

Alabama (only for a short hospital stay immediately after I was born, then my family took me home to...)
Florida
Utah
Wyoming
Peru (Technically, it was a 5 week vacation, but I rented a room while I was there.)

What would I do if I became a Billionaire:

Oh, wow! I would do so many amazing things. I would buy a house in a small town and go about doing good in that place. Of course, I'm afraid the townfolk might be offended that this new girl comes to town and thinks she knows what is best for their community. I would definitely have to be wise about how I go about it. Maybe I would have young people write proposals for how their town could be improved and then grant their wishes. Of course, I wouldn't bring in anything commercial, but if they wanted an art gallery, community center, concert hall, theatre, or something wholesome that would encourage development of talent and culture, then I'd do that so fast.
Also, I'd love to go on a service mission and use my money and talents to build school houses, teach people how to farm better, dig wells, design irrigation strategies, teach music lessons, teach people to read, you know cool stuff like that.
Also, I would donate money to Dixie State College to build a new building for Education students. The building would contain several places for group study but more importantly stress relieving activities like karaoke and guitar hero and couches to nap on.
Of course, I would invest the majority of my money so that I could do cool things like this for the rest of my life.
Oh, and I would hire the best yodeling instructor west of the Mississippi.

5 Jobs I've had:

Night Manager at Taco Time
Work Study for the Music Department at Dixie State
Automotive Sales Associate and Tire & Lube Technician
Cake Decorator
Waitress (yeah, I was just politically incorrect)

5 things you don't know about me:
I would love to live in a small town and be a part of the country music group that performs at every town function.
I had so many career dreams growing up. The three most recurring were a pediatrician, an astronaut, and a math teacher.
I can't wait to graduate so that I can buy some land and work towards being self-sufficient/self-sustaining.
I wish I had a bumper sticker that says, "In case of rapture, this car will be unmanned."
I like having secret goals (as Celina would call them). My very first secret goal was set in middle school which was to never ever eat a Honey Bun. They were so popular. All the kids ate them. Except me. Intentionally (like the sentence fragments).

I tag: no one. By all means, if you want to do this one anyway, pretend like I tagged you.