When is it my turn?

I literally know 5 (or is it 6) people that got engaged this last weekend. Tis the season I guess. It is pretty crazy though. Then I get in depressed mode (this happens every time it comes in bunches, which it usually does). Then I listen to this song (been doing this for years) by Natasha  Bedingfield while saying "Amen" wondering if it is ever going to happen for me. I really do this.

"Soulmate"

Incompatible, it don't matter though
'cos someone's bound to hear my cry
Speak out if you do
You're not easy to find

Is it possible Mr. Loveable
Is already in my life?
Right in front of me
Or maybe you're in disguise

Who doesn't long for someone to hold
Who knows how to love you without being told
Somebody tell me why I'm on my own
If there's a soulmate for everyone

Here we are again, circles never end
How do I find the perfect fit
There's enough for everyone
But I'm still waiting in line

Who doesn't long for someone to hold
Who knows how to love you without being told
Somebody tell me why I'm on my own
If there's a soulmate for everyone

If there's a soulmate for everyone

Most relationships seem so transitory
They're all good but not the permanent one

Who doesn't long for someone to hold
Who knows how to love you without being told
Somebody tell me why I'm on my own
If there's a soulmate for everyone

Who doesn't long for someone to hold
Who knows how to love you without being told
Somebody tell me why I'm on my own
If there's a soulmate for everyone
If there's a soulmate for everyone

Then I remembered how awesome my life has been and still is and how I don't regret the fact that I didn't get married young. Then I remembered how I was in Maui when everyone else was getting engaged... and although I would love to meet someone and am more than ready to get married, I realize my life is awesome and it will continue to be awesome until (and after) I get married. So in the meantime.... I am still going to listen to this song, but I will be more happy for the engaged couples and be happy my life is so awesome.

Goodbye Kelly

Kelly only moved in the ward in February... but she decided that it wasn't right for her to be here any longer and she moved back home to Cali. She made a lot of friends in the short time she was here... including me. Tara and I first got to really know her and become friends with her on our sleepover over St Patrick's weekend. She is a sweetheart and she will be missed. Best of luck to you Kelly. Keep in touch!

Flashback Friday 64

Today takes us back to February 2004. It was my first year away from home and I took every opportunity I could to go back to Santa Barbara to see my family. I got home sick a lot and was always missing them. Thankfully I always had friends that wanted to go with me. It is the best of both worlds for me. Being with my friends AND family is Santa Barbara. Love it. Thankfully my family loves it too. That is something that I love about my family. The more the merrier! The picture says it all. My parents were in a small house and it doesn't matter.... we pack it full and still have a blast and make it work. That is something I want to do in my future home too. Open door policy. :) This trip home.... my Minnesota friends Abby and Monica came with me, plus Logan (Dan's mission companion from the MTC who became a very good family friend) and John Tracy, who served his mission in the Santa Barbara singles ward.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 117

This last week has been so great because the Talent show ended... so that stopped taking over my life and then I had a long weekend (because I took off Friday to go Scuba diving) and it was a super fun weekend at that. On top of that... it was busy because I had to quickly get things ready to go on vacation leaving Monday night. I know.... I have a good life.

Speaking of the good life... I am expecting to have quite an awesome summer. Seriously, between the list Vicki and I made and all of fun things that my friends and I have been planning. I am pretty excited about it. Look forward to an exciting blog to read this summer (I hope).

I need to get new luggage. Mine broke when I flew to Florida a year ago and I still have not replaced it. I never think about it until I need it... and by the time that happens I have to borrow one from someone. This time my good friend Sara was nice enough to let me borrow hers. Really, by my next trip, I need to have bought a new one. Putting on the to do list.

I'm super sunburned. I hate that. I really do put sunblock on, but my skin is just too darn fair! Hopefully I don't end up with skin cancer.

Also, my underwater camera started leaking. I am super frustrated about it and not quite sure what to do. Don't mess with me and my pictures. It is serious business. Most of my trip so far has been taken with that underwater camera... it can't fail me now.

Sunday was fun too because after church, I was sitting out at the park with some friends... and then I was going to head home for my parents yummy Sunday dinner and then I had friends that actually wanted to come with me. Tara, Stuart and Jay. I love it when my friends want to come with me to eat at my parents house. I am pretty sure that my family loves it too.Tara has won over my nieces and nephew, they even asked my sister if she can babysit them in the future. Stuart and Jay loved my mom's birds. Reanne asked me if I was going to marry one of the boys that I brought over (since her plan to have James as an uncle didn't work out in her favor) and reminded me that I am still single (so obviously I need to get on that) and I just had to laugh in front of the boys and tell her no... keep waiting. Start praying for it too while you are at it. Seriously. This was before she got upset.... when she got upset for everyone not playing along with her game, she wrote a note and posted it on the wall.... which I noticed who knows how much later. It made me laugh though... not that she was upset, just that this is how she handles it. I love all of my nieces and nephews and their different personalities.

Photo of the Week 115

I guess I never get tired of taking pictures of flowers.

Bonneville Seabase

In first getting to know Jay and Rich, we found out that we were all scuba certified. I have to say... when you find this out about people, it is an instant bond, an instant connection. I guess it is because you don't meet a lot of people who are certified and I feel like I am always trying to find buddies to dive with. So when we all found this out... we talked about going on a dive together.

There were a couple of problems with this. One being that we live in Utah and there are not many places to dive there, and two being that Jay had not gone on a dive since he was certified about two years ago and Rich had not been on a dive since he was certified about 4 years ago. Normally, if you have not been on a dive in that long, they like for you to take a refresher course with an instructor which who knows how much that costs. I then remembered that James and I had talked about scuba diving together at a place called the Bonneville Seabase. James had told me about it and we were both certified and planned on going but then never did. My brother in law also had told me about it, so I started looking into it. I called the guy that runs it and asked him if Jay and Rich needed refresher courses before diving there and he said no. This was PERFECT! This way Jay and Rich could dive, get some practice in and when we go to the Channel Islands to dive, they will have a recent dive. So I scheduled a day for us to go. Star Wars day (May the 4th) and we took the day off of work and drove out to the middle of nowhere to go diving. We were excited. It literally was out in the middle of nowhere an hour and a half away. In fact, we drove right by it and didn't even notice right away. When we realized this was the place... we laughed. When looking at the pictures... you can see why.

Although this place is out in the middle of nowhere... it was going to be great practice for me because we would be diving in salt water with actual fish. The guy was very nice and called me and made sure I was going to be there for the fish feeding. This is when we saw a little of what we would be getting in the water with. Sting Ray's, Nurse sharks and many other tropical fish.

Then it was time to get in the water... this is of course after my wet suite problems. He put us in 7mm wet suites, which with my big hips was not the most easy task in the world. There was even one point where the guy told Jay to help me put it on and while I bounced up and down him and the guy would get me in. ha ha. Yeah, totally not embarrassing at all. He also asked me if my eyelashes were going to stay on. ha ha. I guess he had noticed they were fake but he still waited until the boys had gone back to the car for something. Anyway, in the water we went and he gave us each a head of lettuce. This was one of my favorite parts. The visibility was super crappy! Unless someone or something was right in front of your face, you couldn't see it. So the lettuce was awesome, because we would dive down with the lettuce and hold it out and TONS of fish would gather and eat it right out of your hands. Super awesome. Jay tried to get a picture of this... this was the best we got. I know...

After we finished up with our lettuce, we swam over to the other pool. Again, the visibility was SOOO bad. We were starting to get frustrated because we would all go down together but we would lose each other so fast. There was one point where we finally were all next to each other by the sunken ship and I was so happy, I just wanted to take in the moment and stay there together. There was an underwater box and Rich and Jay had both found it, but I did not. Rich started running low on air, but Jay and I were fine and I was determined to get to that box. Jay decided to try again to help me find the box. We went back down and he held my hand the rest of the time we were underwater together. Couldn't lose each other that way right? Next thing we know, we are swimming 20 feet deep and there is the box. Jay and I go in the box under water... and it is cool because there is compressed air in there. Jay and I said a few words together in there and then we were on our way.

Once we came back up from that, we were done diving. The guy decided before we got out, there was one more thing he wanted to do...  feed the really big fish. He had us all link arms and the last person  had their hand on a railing. He then threw raw fish meat right by us and all the big fish came out of nowhere to eat the food and I for sure got wacked in the face. He also told us to put our hands into fists so the fish don't eat our fingers like they enjoy doing. It was fun. Even though the visibility was so bad, we still had a blast and it was good practice. I just had to laugh when I came up from a dive and saw a semi drive by. So ghetto. We just laughed and made the best out of it. We still had a lot of fun. We are hoping now we can go to the channel Islands! Thanks Jay and Rich for a good time. I always have fun hanging out with you guys.

Friends, Four-Wheeling & Food

Does a Saturday get any better than friends, four-wheeling and food? I think not! Brother Hyde (one of the members of our bishopric) lives up Hobble Creek Canyon and has some Four-Wheelers and loves it when people come to his house to play. I don't know if you remember, but I went in the fall with Allyson and it was so beautiful and so much fun.

This time, this super exclusive, super legit BBQ Saturday - Day O Fun was planned by Jay. Jay is always bragging about his BBQed Ribs that he makes in the Smoker and he was ready to show it off. There were 6 of us and we all brought something delicious to the BBQ. I brought my Southern Style Baked Beans that are always a big hit. The other brought fruit, drinks, creamed corn and peach cobbler. It was an incredible BBQ.

Before and after the BBQ, we took turns going Four Wheeling. The first group went out and me and Rich got left behind... so we went on a little trail to the pretty river behind the Hydes house.

Then it was our turn to go on the Four-Wheelers. We were just going to go by ourselves, but what is the fun in that? So I asked Liz if she would go with me. I had been on the trails out there before, so I lead the way.

Then I took us on a path that maybe wasn't really a path. It was adventurous though.. and fun. Way more fun then when I got stuck in a hole.

After dinner, I went out on the four-wheeler with Thomas. He was crazy fun on that thing. We had a blast.... he even almost flipped us over... seriously.

All in all, it was an awesome weekend. I love my friends and I love good food and most of all I love having fun!