Mother's Day

Due to it being past Mother's Day I know that I am too late! However, that still doesn't mean that I am not grateful for my angel mother!! And so I have made a list to acknowledge the wonderful gifts and talents that are hers....

Her love of gardening: She has always had plants around her, and they flourish!! I would have plants in college that would start to fade and look so sick, and all I would have to do is bring it home and viola, they flourish too! I think they just needed her special TLC. She is always gardening and nurturing little starts into thriving plants. Whenever we would walk pass a plant, she could tell me the name. Truly a talent. I believe she got her love of flowers from her mother, Norma Neibaur and grandma, Mabel Belnap. Her favorite flower, I think, are Peonies. She also loves Bleeding Hearts, which were Grandma Belnap's favorite too.

Her love for art:This amazing woman can paint! It is true! And not only does she do a good job in the opinions of loved ones, but she has won blue ribbons at fairs. They are all beautifully done. My favorite one is the painting of a ship that has wrecked with fog all around it. The detail is amazing and it won many ribbons. I only wish that she would keep it going. The poor girl is so busy, that she rarely has time, which is sad cause there is definately talent there.

Her love for music:She is an amazing pianist and organist. She is too modest to say so, but she is. She has held many callings that require her to play in Sacrament meetings as well as other church meetings. She has even had to play impromptu, and can pass off smashingly! She loves listening to music as she works in the home. One of her favorites is "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" by Rachmaninoff. Many of you will know this from the theme song of "Somewhere in Time".
One of her favorite hymns is "Where Can I Turn For Peace", because it was one of the answers to her prayers.

Her hard working ethics: No matter what she does, she always tries to do her best. Whether it be work, art, sewing, callings. As to work, her boss absolutely loves her! She is always honest and hardworking, with the ability to do what the other men do, and most of the time better. She is his right hand. Sewing, I remember taking 4-H and of course she was my teacher. She would make me unpick seam after seam to make sure I did a great job. This annoyed me alot, and we would spend hours on my project, with me complaining, and her faithfully pressing, pinning, and unpicking endlessly without complaint. It is because of her that I feel confident enough to make dresses and projects without sweating too much! But I often wish I had my seam picker!! Callings, she has always tried to plan fun activities to help people learn and grow. In fact, a pet peeve of hers, (if I may share it!), is when she helps to plan an activity and people don't have any enthusiasm and do a mediocre job when it could have been so much better.

Her love of learning: She loves to learn about history, gardening, health, arts, literature, ect. In fact, it is because of her that I absolutely love to learn about George Washington or the Revolutionary War, go to musicals, or to enjoy architecture. She is my play buddy, and we always try to go to at least one a year. Also we have read a few books together. My last few years in high school, she would drive me to school and then head straight to work. We would read books on the drive there (which was easily fifteen min). We would be laughing one second, and balling our eyes out the next, even to the point when I couldn't read aloud anymore!! Ah, the memories! Health, she shares her knowledge about vitamins, exercises, foods, anything she has learnt helps to increase our health.

Her love of the gospel: She has such a strong testimony! She has taught me gospel principles everyday. Whether it was in the garden, kitchen cooking, bearing her testimony in Primary, Young Women's, or Relief Society. There was never a time when I doubted that she had a testimony. She kept us kids going and for that, I am forever grateful. It couldn't have been easy. She loves going to the temple, and has been my "temple going companion" a few times. Those are definately special times. She has a calling in Relief Society to teach from the Joseph Smith manual. She loves learning about him, and the doctrines he taught. She is excited and shares with her family. And she is always prayerful to follow the Spirit whenever she is teaching a class, or an individual. There have been many times that the advice she has given me had been the answers to prayers. Her love of her Savior and Heavenly Father have always been close to her heart. She hesitates to bear her testimony because she gets emotional, but I love hearing it! She has such conviction and love.

Her ability to be silly: Yes, this is a trait that I admire! It actually makes me sad that she used to worry about embarrassing us kids. In Young Women's, we would go to Girl's Camp and I loved it! I got to spend a week with my mom, and I don't know if it was the atmosphere, or the fact that we hadn't showered in days! But that was when she would make me laugh harder than any of my friends ever could. Especially around the campfire! She became one of us girls, a great friend. I loved watching her take part of the skits the moms would do for the boys and girls teams in pep rallies when we went to District and State. She was always so funny and cute!

Her love of her family: Just as strong as her testimony of the Gospel, I never have doubted that she loved all of us! She would go without all of the time. I never knew, and will probably never know, how much she sacrificed for us kids. She always wanted the very best for us, whether it was drive all the way to Grace (30 min) so we could take clogging, or follow the sports teams to Lewiston, ID (I don't even know how far that is!?!) she always supported us in our activities. She would help us make posters and skits when we ran for student body officers. She helped us with our projects in school. In fact, a teacher teased me of being lucky enough to have a mom like mine! And it is true! She even was my sister's and my little league coach for softball and junior high cheerleading advisor! And a play director for my elementary plays. A boy scout leader for my brother. She wanted us to have every opportunity to be involved, even if that included her being in charge. And her love for her grandchildren. I don't think that anyone can get as excited as her when she hears their voices on the phone. They love talking with her, and always have songs to sing, which she rants and raves about how wonderful they are. She is always eager to hear about their activities.

Her love of my father, her eternal companion: I know that she loves my dad! There have been many times when I hear her praise him for the kind of man he is. She almost glows when she talks about how much he knows about his job, how people seek his help and advice, the acts of service he performs, and what a good friend he is. I think the times that I have felt/seen her love for him the most was when my dad was in the hospital, which have been a few times. She always wanted to be there with him, and wanted him to be as comfortable as possible. But due to helping him complete his job, she had to leave in the evenings. I remember one night, just after my mission, he was in the hospital and had an adverse reaction to morphine that made him confused and scared. We got a phone call in the middle of the night from the nurses who were concerned. I, being as annoying as ever, wanted to go with my mom to the hospital. That night, I slept on the couch at the bottom of his bed, and my mom layed next to my dad, comforting him and whispering that everything would be alright.

My best friend: She has always been my best friend. I don't know what I would do without her! Growing up, I would often choose to not go out with my friends so I could do something with her instead. Not because I had to, but because I would rather be with her than anyone else! She made me laugh! I could be silly around her, in fact, when I go home I digress back to my silly self, because I know that she will love me no matter what! We have the same interests. And throughout growing up to the present, she is the one I call when I am so excited or when I have to pour my heartache out. She has always been there for me.

....Thank you so much, Mom, for being YOU!!

School

Everyone seems confused as to what I am doing, which is totally understandable considering I am always changing my mind!?! SO here is the 411...

...So I am officially signed up to take Biology and Physics this summer, after a huge frustrating ordeal!! I will start on the 13th of May! I am a little nervous, but mostly excited to get things moving. And then I am registered for Anatomy in the Fall, and hopefully things will go well for taking Physiology in the Spring.

...I was planning on doing Diagnostic Medical Sonography (ultasound tech) that is an associates program through Salt Lake Community College, but I didn't get in, long story short(but I later found out there were problems with the college accepting/evaluating my transcripts so obviously the program couldn't see any of the prerequisites being fulfilled!?!?!). I also found out there were 170 plus applicants with only 16 openings. Anyways, I found out that they only admit every two years, a little bit daunting!

...So I looked more into the Radiology program through Weber State. They have a campus in Provo, and I would get my associates there as a rad. tech. (mostly xray) and then once I take the state boards, I can start the Bachelor's program. That is where I can specialize, I believe. And with that time, I will figure out if I only want to do ultrasound, or MRI's, or CT's, Radiology Therapy, ect. SO that is the goal and destination, and I am determined to enjoy the journey. My friend that I work with, Maria, went with me to get books, student ID, parking pass, ect. She was so cute to come, and we had fun. We even stopped by Gardners Village in Midvale, I love that place!! It is a favorite of me and my mom since High School. For anyone looking for a cute place to window shop and just enjoy life, this is the place to go!

...My friend Andrea has helped enforce positive thinking! She teased me with only having a "B" acceptable attitude, instead of reaching for an "A" in Anat/Phys. Which I relunctanly agreed to. So from now on, I am going to get A's!! And why not? I have had more medical experience since I took it last, and I also have many experts that I can ask questions. I think it will be more enjoyable this go around. So yeah for SCHOOL!!

...Also, Andrea and I have signed on for 24 HR. Fitness. I am enjoying it, however I am totally out of shape and sore!? But I remember loving that feeling in high school, knowing that it was a good pain, so I am trying to keep the same attitude.

...Then concerning the cruise, I can't get anyone to go with me!! I am so incredibly sad. So that is a downer, however I guess I should be grateful for not spending the money. And I have already found a project for it, a laptop for school. So far, I am daunted by how much they are, and feeling the hole in my pocket coming too fast. But it is a good thing in the long run.

...And finally, I get to go home this weekend!! I went home for Easter, but I am excited to go again, especially considering the fact that I won't be as able to when school starts.

That is me in a nutshell, and so hopefully my life will be semi stable without too many changes for you all to catch up!