Lessons ReLearned: What I "re"learned in Price, Utah

But first----some pictures of the adventures...unfortunately some of the pictures that I took weren't so great....so I had to find and use some other ones......But mainly just for the point

It really was a fun time all around. Kind of a 'small-ish' town.

Really such a pretty place when ya think about it--- Ya got your burnt orange, red, brown mountains and then a lush green valley right smack dab in the middle.

It's almost a split between Greek Orthodox (they had a Greek Days Festival one of the weekends that I was there) - LDS - and Baptist religions....LDS really being more of a minority (which in Utah--is a rare find indeed...probably the only place that you don't see LDS churches everywhere)

They do a lot of Mining around the area.

There is indeed a college in town.

The big thing around there is Dinosaurs...if you couldn't tell from the cop car C; There is a pretty cool Musuem in the middle of town as well as a Fossil Quarry on the outside of town.

Groggs is THE best place to go eat.... just take my word for it.

The second picture---there's this Italian Restaurant that most people absolutely raved about, so I tried to get over there to eat. But seriously I think I only saw the "Open" sign up once. ONCE! and it was a time that I wasn't able to go in. How sad!

Isn't that J.C Penney so cute looking????

One of the things that I found a bit interesting--- the store that I was working at was in a strip mall-ish area... that also had a Smith's. The whole area shared a big parking lot. Anyway- every night that I closed I would look out the window and see all these tons of cars in the parking lot---and a bunch of teenagers hanging around.
In the Parking Lot ????
Poor things had nothing else to do.
One of the girls that I worked with down there who was actually from the area filled me in on what was really going on...
APPARENTLY-- The Smiths parking lot was a big huge meeting place where they would all decide where the hot destination was to be for the night...
so APPARENTLY they had places to go---they just all needed to congregate beforehand.

Two Movie theaters in the town- 2 movies between them....they each only played one movie---Coincidently the same movie most of the time.





But also-----








A very humbling experience.... Coming from a job where I knew EVERYTHING and jumping into a job where I know NOTHING. I had to pull myself back a bit from the building frustration and remember that at my previous jobs...it took me a minute to learn everything there too. I started out at the bottom and worked my way up everytime. I remember on one particular night after a bit of a rough day--sitting alone in my hotel room. Thinking and stressing about everything that went on during the day- I found myself feeling pretty low and my confidence was completely shot if not totally non-existant. It was late and I was exhausted--physically and emotionally. I was starting to miss being home...I was completely drained... completely alone all by myself.

As I'm sitting there-I pulled out my scriptures. I started over with the Book of Mormon and at the time I was in first Nephi....which I'm sure I've read a Skillion times... but this particular night a very 'old' and 'familiar' story came and hit me in suddenly a new way.

When Nephi broke his bow..... totally have read this story so many times and ya gotta wonder why I never picked up on this before.

After his bow had broken-they were unable to get food for their families while they were in the wilderness....and of course this made everyone mighty awnry and they began to murmur against both Nephi and the Lord. They had left the comfort and luxury of their home in Jerusalem. They were all out there alone in the desert-without food...they could have easily died. I can see how things could've been a bit overwhelming...

Catching the hints yet?

So as I'm sitting there reading through this story--- I was 're-Learned' this.

Nephi never once looked to the Lord with a "Pity-Party" attitude. Never Complaining. Always the "Can-Do" attitude.

What does he do??? He Builds A Better Bow! One that probably wouldn't break or loose it's spring.

What I really took from this little experience is this...

Things can always be fixed. Things will always get better. I never have to feel alone. Comfort is always right there waiting for me when I need it.

I can honestly say that my time in Price, Utah was not a waste....if nothing else-I Learned that.

Lesson ReLearned....what? Already?!? Really?

I know right- I can usually go a bit longer without forcibly relearning something. But here's two in the same month.

Watch Me Go! :D

Okay in all honestly I really do ReLearn all this stuff practically everyday--but it's not too terribly often that it hits straight out of the park and I've just got to shout it from the hills as quickly as possible.

hahaha! could not resist :)

So here's the lesson of the day.

Crap happens-but it's usually for our good. And hopefully-it's never as bad as it really seems. Ya just gotta grin and bare it and hope that ya learn something quickly so it can be over with. :)

Luckily- nothing totally and completely terrible has happened so no worries there. Just a few little holes in the road that are kind of starting to add up to be one heck of a bumpy ride.

I know that everything will indeed work out- and that hopefully soon everything will be good and happy again. And I'll just be able to look back at this and say "Eh- that was a peice of cake."

does anybody else really wanna have a peice of this right now?

If we can just look at some of our trials from outside of ourselves- they won't seem like such a big deal. If we can just try not to think of ourselves as the victim and take a more proactive stand to the situation-there's no stopping us.

"How bad is this situation and what can I do to make it better?"

"There's gotta be a light at the end of the tunnel through the mountain--even if it feels more like a mineshaft straight down to the earths core."

"This stuff that I'm going through- there's gotta be thousands of people who have it worse than me."

And keeping in mind all of the good things in life. Loving Family and Friends. Perhaps a few luxuries that are not as easy to come by for other people. Knowing with a surity that the Lord knows what's going on...even if we don't know 100%...the comfort of knowing that someone else does is a great marvelous thing. Knowing that we've done everything in our power to make the situation better is also one of the only comforts that can be had. Leaving everything out on the table and being able to walk away knowing that there was not a single thing else that we could have done.

Things happen for a reason- and we can become better for it -- take it as a 'learnin' instead of a 'hurtin' -and just have to hope that we can come out of it relatively unscathed. :)

As the sayin goes "If you're goin through Hell-keep on goin. Don't slow down-if you're scared don't show it. Keep on movin and face that fire-walk right through it. Ya might get out 'fore the devil even knows you're there."

Another Lesson Relearned-- Things work out once again...go figure :)

Did I really just have a moment of small doubt?

Unfortunately yes. Here's the story....

Spare funds have been kind of hard to come by these past few months. With seemingly a million different directions that a single paycheck ends up going-- I indeed found myself rationalizing that maybe I should hold off paying tithing for just a bit so that I might be able to catch up.

Oh yeah--- I seriously let myself go there! LAME ANSWER!

Well- with one small paycheck in hand, nearly empty cupboards, and a fairly depleated bank account- I seriously almost let myself do it again. But it hit me that I really just needed to go ahead and pay my tithing as well as catch up on the tithing that was still owed for about the last 3 paychecks. So before I can even think twice- I go ahead depositing the paycheck and writing up a check for tithing. I immediately feel 100% better after handing it over to the bishop that Sunday.

But as life sometimes is- Up and Down- Monday came and I saw that the check had cleared and what it had left me to live on for the next two weeks--lets just say that nasty DOUBT snuck in and I had no idea how it could possibly work out.

I've found myself on my knees quite a lot this past week.

Anyway-today after getting home for the day I stopped at my mailbox to get the mail that had been piling up since I'd last picked it up on Monday. I bring it into the house and start mulling through it. The envelope at the very bottom at the pile--

From the United States Dept. of the Treasury.

And inside that small envelope was the Tax Refund check that had finally made it.

Written out for not only enough to catch up -but more than enough to have plenty of left over and stay ahead.

Not only had it come when I needed it the most- but also about a month before the estimated arrival time.

Sent in the mail on Monday- and since it literally was at the bottom of the pile, I reckon it had probably arrived on Tuesday.



I fell to the floor and began to do some serious sobbing. Make that the Happy/Ugly Crying. :)


There have been a few times in the years since receiving my Patriarchal Blessing- that a simple line or phrase has come running through my mind with such extreme swiftness and recognition. When the Holy Ghost and Comforter swoops right in and speaks of the truths that are so familiar to your own spirit- and the world doesn't feel quite so big. And this was one of them.

I am so very grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who -as it turns out- isn't really so far away after all. There are so many blessings that he is waiting to give to us-we need only ask and TRUST that he will indeed give them to us.

I have a feeling that in my prayers tonight- there will be some good conversation going on, full of extreme Humility and extreme Gratefulness. And for the first time in a while- I will be able to sleep peacefully.






You'd think by now I would have all these lessons learned and down. I guess I like being reminded sometimes....go figure :)

Lessons ReLearned...(looking up toward the sky) THANKS!!!

So nothing really really super fantastic actually happened this week I but I've just been very exceptionally happy this week. Guess sometimes ya don't need a reason to be happy-maybe ya can just be happy just because ya don't feel ownry or sad. Hmm...not that I'm prone to mostly be ownry or sad all the time (:

I don't know--this week has just felt different.

I sat down today really trying to come up with a few reasons for the why---cause I'd sure like to keep it going as long as I can.

I kind of had my little "Ah-ha" moment at the beginning of the week. I guess I should actually call it a "Ka-Duh" moment cause yes it's a lesson that has already been learned in the past but I guess maybe I just needed to hear it again. So here's a little bit of a back story. One of my co-workers I gotta be honest- I've had a little bit of a hard time with. It's not like we haven't really gotten along- we just haven't been the greatest of friends. I don't really have the same friendship with her that I do with the other people that I work with. And I've seriously lost sleep over this cause I've been sure that she just didn't like me at all. I felt that I was really really trying my hardest to be friendly and nice to her and all I was getting back in return was the cold shoulder. It's bothered me that I couldn't find any kind of reason for it all. So anyway- on Monday I decided that really enough was enough--no there wasn't a single bit of confrontation--I simply didn't go out of my way to be as friendly as usual...Ok-I pretty much ignored. And ya know- at the time it really kinda felt good. I know that sounds horrible-but it kinda made me feel a little bit better to just be able to pretend that it didn't bother me in the least. That I was able to give back what I got. Afterward though- it didn't feel so hot. And here's the clincher- not at all very Christlike.

DOH!
When did I decide that I could have unkind intentions towards someone else? When did I decide to be the judge? I may not have said anything out loud- but in my mind those things were being said and Silence spoke everything out loud for me. What was I doing?

Lessons ReLearned :
NUMBER ONE-I realize that the real me is just not a person who can consciously be mean to someone else- I have to do it by accidental lapse of judgement and lack of intelligence.

NUMBER TWO-Nephi is right again!! :) "he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another." He's a rotten fella that Satan is. The little sneak got right in when I wasn't really looking or paying attention.

NUMBER THREE- And not everyone has to like me. Kind of unfortunately in this world-it's not a rule it's an option. So I can't make them do it. And nobody should really be looked down upon for having an opinion---even if it is misunderstood by some, everyone is allowed to have one. Huge weight off my shoulders when I remembered this lesson. I no longer have to worry about it and stress about it and think about it more often than not. It shouldn't even be a blip on my radar screen. As long as I know that I'm doing everything that I can to really do my personal best- that's all that really matters in the end.

So yes- some lessons have to be constantly relearned while we are here. Hopefully nothing too damaging happens while we are working through them and we can come out unscathed. With a new aspiration to be better and do better.

I guess that might be something really really super fantastic aye? :)


(looking up toward the sky) THANKS!!!!

"The Chocolate"....oh thank goodness.

"The Chocolate" is this adorable little dessert cafe here in Orem. And let me tell you- if I could I'd live there. It's that good C:

The Kazookie would have to be hands down my favorite. Big Hot cookie + Huge scoop of Ice Cream = The Lord looking down on you and saying "You are my most wonderous creation." Yeah- it's totally that good. C:

However----- Have one all to yourself and you totally run the risk of falling off the wagon - in a big way. Not to mention the extreme sugar high you'll have to work off later.

But ya know what- dieting can't be total and complete deprivation. That's no fun and it's totally unfair. Nobody wants to do it that way.

So---- pace yourself.

And I reckon in order to go enjoy this heavenly bit of goodness every once in a while...just take 4 friends with ya and share one. Splits up the portions but still able to enjoy..... oh thank goodness.

High heels in the Super Market---try not to die out there

Well--usually a quick trip to the grocery store turns into an hour long event. Everyone is in a hurry, they gotta get to the cash register, to the cereal isle, back to the meat department etc... It occured to me- People walk around the grocery store like they are driving. They shop like they drive. With a cart-you even increase your chance of a crash. People stop right in the middle of the isle- or they are going in the "Wrong Direction"/against the main flow - ya got your texters and chatters - and my favorite pulling out of the isle and wizzing into the main flow without even looking. People drive their shopping carts like they drive their cars.

Plain and Simple.


Back to the point---
So this particular trip started out just like any other---except---I wore my high heels. Which NEVER happens!! I also happened to be wearing a cute new dress that I had resently purchased. My hair was done up...in short- I was feeling pretty darn cute. Confidence is a great thing! Walking through the isle's of the store- back straight and head held high when I happened upon seriously one of THE cutest looking fella's ever. So you know what I do---- I smile :) and you know what he does--- he smiles back :)

Hahahaha!!! You know where this is going right?


SLIP!!! All over the place! Oops!

High Heels in the Super Market--great for a confidence boost but try not to die out there C: