Here we are...

So I just had to post these pictures. The first one is us being happy and "posing" for the picture. The next one, for those of you who know us, is more realistic for this bunch.

I'm addicted

Mom and I went to a midnight showing if the movie "Twilight" last night. HOLY COW!!! I'm still walking on air. It is the greatest movie ever (or at least really close behind "Pride & Prejudice"). It just made me so happy and just giddy or something. It wasn't great acting or filming or anything like that, it just fully met my expectations. I've seen it twice and have my apoointment for the third time already set up. And yes... we are dorks... we bought shirts!

I think that the atmosphere that we were in totally made the movie too. We got the tickets through a salon that had bought out 2 theaters. They had a raffle before and gave out bags of candy to everyone and then when we left we got a bunch of gift certificates and stuff to different places. It was AWESOME! They got us all pumped up before the movie. The second that Edward walked on the screen, everyone SCREAMED! Then at the part where Edward showed his sparkling chest, one woman stood up and yelled "Take it off!" It was just great fun to be with such an excited crowd. Anyways.... I thought it was a fun movie!

Sillyness :)

A few days ago Amy and Sami had dropped in for something and they stayed and talk for a while. Mom and I had just gone to the party store to pick up a few things for her primary songs. Sami and I got into them and this is what happened....

I was up first. No, not my real eyes. Yes, I'm upside-down. And Yes, my chin makes the perfect "nose."

This is me "picking my nose" with my tongue.... :)

I know we look basically the same, but this one above and below is actually of Sami. Her little chin wrinkles so well that it looks like the holes in a normal nose.... She is SO funny!OK, now I don't have the right software or something to turn the video, but make sure your sound is on for this one. She was making us laugh so much!

Oh and P.S. This is Sami's latest dance. She says she learned it from Disney Channel.... Oh the all-knowing source of goodness and truth.

Baby Steps Re-charge

Ok, so after the "accident" my self-help improvement weeks got thrown off a little. But, after a wonderful visit from my home teachers last night, I'm back at it. One of my home teachers, Allan, talked about how thankful we need to be (good topic considering the up-coming holiday). He asked me a question that threw me off gaurd a little. He asked me how my relationship with Christ was. Now, this shouldn't be a hard question to answer, but usually the question is, "How is your relationship with Heavenly Father?" That one I can answer immediatly... But the "Christ" question was a little harder. It got me thinking about how much time I really spend thinking about my savior and all that He did and still does for me. I had to stop and evaluate: Am I thankful enough to Him for the tremendous gift which He has given me? Do I think about Him and all that He has done for me? Am I treating others how He would treat them?

I'm not saying I'm an awful person, but for the next couple of weeks I want to try and focus a little more on Christ and improving myself in a more spiritual instead of physical manner. Plus, I think this will really help to bring a unique spirit for this Christmas season.

The first Christ-like attribute that I want to work on is that of loving and giving more of myself. Few people know how demanding and impatient I've been in the past. To those people I say I truly am sorry. In high school, I realize I was too controlling with Hudson. I had him wrapped around my little finger and unfortunatley, that wasn't always a good thing. Hudson definately has gained a backbone in Russia, but I want to be better myself.

This week I'm going to try my hardest to serve wherever I can serve. To listen to people who need a shoulder to cry on. And to love, not judge, first.

"We are asked to be kinder with one another, more gentle and forgiving. We are asked to be slower to anger and more prompt to help. We are asked to extend the hand of friendship and resist the hand of retribution. We are called upon to be true disciples of Christ, to love one another with genuine compassion, for that is the way Christ loved us." “An Easter Greeting from the First Presidency,” Church News, 15 April 1995

Once upon a time...

So I was trying to think of something to blog about this week. I wasn't sure what you all wanted to hear from me... so I'll tell you a little story. Once upon a time there was this girl...Well, actually she was more like a young woman. Now this girl was very young for her grade. She didn't turn 16 until the summer after her sophomore year of high school. So that year, she had to sit by and watch everyone else go on date and dances and have fun. Well, the summer she turned 16 she started to like Mr. Redhead. Because of that, she decided to throw a pit of a birthday party at her house and invite Mr. Redhead and some of his friends. And so she did just that. Unfortuantely Mr. Redhead had to work. But she put on a good face for her guests. There was one guest in particular that she talked to a lot. He was Mr. Redhead's best friend at the time. His name.... Hudson. OK, ok.... so maybe this is my story. So what?!?! I just thought some of you might enjoy hearing how my whole situation came to be... put no worries. This isn't going to be a novel. It's going to be more of a.... um.... picture book! So, that night at my house we watched "Hitch." Kinda ironic now that you think about it. Hudson and I ended up sitting by each other and talking almost the whole way through the movie. When it was over, everyone else left, but Hudson stayed to help clean up a little. I ended up walking out to his car with him. Apparently I said something along the lines of "OH, I wouldn't mind going out on a date with a soccer player." or something like that.... but he heard, "Hudson, I really like you and want to go on a date with you!" :) And so the magic began. Right after that, my family and I drove my oldest brother out to Virginia. it was like a 2 and a half week trip. And my parents claim that I texted Hudson THE WHOLE time.

When we got back, he took me on my very first date. We went to the "Voice Male" concert at Thanksgiving Point. It was rather funny because his mom and his little brother came with us. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun. Sweet little Hudson, during the concert, turned and ASKED to hold my hand. I had never had someone ask before and was completely shocked. I wasn't sure that I wanted to hold his hand on the first date and so I told him "no." Looking back, I don't even know why it was such a big deal to me, but it was. Anyways, he seemed ok, but i knew that he wa dying inside. By the end of the night I had reasoned with myself and when we were in the car on the ride home, I reached over and grabbed his hand. He said, "Beth it's ok if you don't want to. I'm not mad. And I don't want you to do this out of pity or something." I told him that i wanted to, but I don't know that I had him completely convinced.

Our relationship only got stronger after that. It's funny because I had been praying for a long time for Heavenly Father to send me a friend.... someone I could talk to that would listen to me. Someone who loved me for me and just wanted to always be with me. I, personally, was thinking that someone would be a girl, but turns out the Lord had different plans for me. That someone was Hudson. We have shared so many good times and have had such great experiences together, I can't wait to see what it's like when he gets back.Hudson took me to the homecoming dance our Junior year. We look so little in this picture! I used to have a really big problem with the fact that I am ALMOST the same height as him. It never bothered him and so I got past it. Plus, now-a-days you can see tons of girls that are taller than their husbands. (Although, Hud has claimed that he's grown another inch on his mission... we'll see if that's just wishful thinking)We've been all over the country together..... From choir tour in california....To cleaning churches in Hawaii, we were ALWAYS together in high school. Here some more good pictures of dances and hanging out with friends.... these are some of my most favorite memories!

This is Prom of our Junior year. We had so much fun and I LOVED that dress. My mom and I made it.

Football games.... need I say more?

Yet another choir tour in California. This one was fun because both of our moms came... and they actually got to be roomies!

I feel so blessed to have been able to graduate with my best friend! He means so much to me!

This one is more the REAL us... This is actually at a Jon Schmidt concert (OUR FAV!!!) the summer before he left.

See... i do have a small social life! :)

So I just want to say that I have THE BEST single's ward on the face of the earth.... and it's not even a ward, it's still a branch. We are so small and so we're the only "branch" in American Fork. But that does not mean that we lack in excitement and fun. A couple of weeks ago we went up to my branch president's cabin in Heber, Utah. We stayed in "the mansion" Friday night and then came home Saturday afternoon. I drove up because I had to come back earlier than the group on account of work.

I got to spend a lot of time with some of my GFFL (Girlfriends For Life!) It seems that no matter what happens, how long we go between talking, or how far apart we drift, when we get together, we have fun. We party and talk and laugh like we're the closest of friends. I love them! Loran drove up with me and we just had the best time. I'm working on not talking so much and being better at letting others express themselves and so it was good to hear what she had to say. I learned a lot about her and I just love conversations that are more than knee-deep. Plus, it was good to have her there while we were driving through the scary mountains.... And Bro. Welch was getting us lost.

And speaking of the leaders...I'm not standing alone when i say that they are the bomb!!! Bro. Welch and his wife are in my parents' ward. He is so funny and one of the only ones that gets away with teasing me.... and I just have to take it. Pres. Myler is so kind and understanding. I have a deep love and appreciation for that man and all he does. He and his wife are adorable. I love that I can go to this single's ward and not feel like they're pushing me to get married right away.

And what would the ward be without it's members? The group of people that I get to hang out with at the branch are just great. We cry, laugh, and learn together and I feel like everyone is pretty open and honest with each other. It's cool to go and not feel like you're being judged constantly.

Can I just say that I love 4-wheelers. I haven't been on one for a very long time though.... probably the last time I was on one was a Jen's parents' house. And that was a good 4 years ago. Anyways, this is a picture of me and Andee Rowley. It took me a minute to warm up and get comfortable, but once I got going, I didn't want to get off. Hudson, I want one of these... just so you know!

Some good news!!!

Ok, quick update... I'm doing really well. The good thing about Anaphylactic Shock is that people tend to recover really quickly. I came home Tuesday at about 3 p.m. (They actually let me vote in the hospital!!! It was a pretty interesting experience concidering it was my first presidential election. I don't know how much my vote should have counted though because I was so drugged up I could barely read the words on the paper! he he) I took of Wednesday and today and tried to mostly relax. Thanks to all of you who have visited or called or prayed... I know it's all helped me so much. My mouth is a little scratched up still because of tubes and I have a lovely scrape above my left nostril because of the tube the had down my nose to pump my stomach, but other than that I'm doing pretty well. My arms are banged up too because (and this may not surprise soem of you) but I guess even when I was knocked out, I was fighting the nurses and DID NOT want to tubes in my mouth or nose. They had to tie me down that night so I wouldn't hurt myself. Needless to say, I bruised my arms a little.

Now, Here is a little update from Moscow... seems like life over there is a little better than here... FOR ONCE! "Last week I said that on Friday we would be having a 'Fall carnival' to celebrate Halloween. I am happy to say it turned out great. Unfortunately someone forgot to pass the memo around that missionaries were, to a degree, allowed to dress up. So I had to find something at the branch to wear as a costume. I found a hardhat so I did the best I could to be a missionary and builder (Missionary and builder are kind of the same. We are building the kinding of God lol). We had more than thirty people show up which was great because at least 20 of them were investigators or people from English Club. There were also a lot of inactive members there. And oh did I mention, THERE WERE LOT OF KIDS!!!! It was awesome to have the little kids there. It's not to often that there are more than two kids at a branch function but on Friday there were about 10 kids atleast. We played a bunch of games after we watch Elder Wirthlin's latest conference talk. It was a great time for me to mingle and mix and get to know the branch members and everyone that came. It was a great night!!

Elder Gunther had to show the little kids how bobbing for apples is really done in America!!!

This is Elder Cannon with some of the kids from the branch who dressed up for the Halloween Party!!!

"On Friday, for our weekly planning, Elder Cannon and I set some high goals. We set a goal to have four investigators at church. Sunday was great because there is a family that has four kids. One is amost nine, so we are trying to get him baptised. His dad is a member but him mom isn't. They are a sweet family and we tried really hard to get them to come to church on Sunday. And they came. It is really hard for them to come to church because the dad is crippled and really can only come to church if someone comes and picks them up. So they came because we got the branch president to pick them up. The kids were very loud though lol during sacrement meeting. We actually ended up taking them into the primary room and watching them the last 15 minutes or so during sacrement meeting because of how roudy they were. I had to run but in before sacrement meeting ended to play the piano. I am also the 2nd counselor in the Elders' quorem. Then my favorite part was that because I'm the only one that knows how to play the piano in the branch, I was asked to play the piano during primary. I LOVED IT!!!! It was so fun to play the primary songs and to sing with the kids and watch their big smiles. I love primary. I am hoping we can work it out somehow so I can continue to play the piano in there because it really invites the spirit and it really calms down the kids!

"The work is picking up as we are focusing on being 100 percent exactly obedient and we are seeing the hand of the Lord in helping us in His work."

Scariest day of my life...

OK so instead of telling the story a million times, I'll just tell you all here. Monday I came home on the bus between my 3-5 break. I was going to take the car out to BYU for my class so that I could hurry home instead of having to wait for the bus. Well, I got home about 4 and my mom started to make those peanut butter rice crispie treats. She made them before and I've been fine before. Well, I stated my laundry and decided I didn't feel like going back to BYU. So i was sittin at the counter and started to have what I thought was an asthma attack. Well, it came on really quickly and my chest got really tight and I went outside to see if some fresh air might work, but it didn't. I got my mom and we hopped in the car and started driving to the hospital. I tried to keep sucking on my nebulizer, but it wasn't working. I stopped and just started praying. I didn't realize it, but my mom said that I was using every breath that I had to pray outloud to my Heavenly Father. My mom said that I was asking Him to give me strength and bless the doctors and to protect me. The last thing I remember was passing the cemetary (which is about 2 miles from my house) and looking out the window in the rear view mirror and seeing my white face and completely blue lips.

Now the rest is my mom's point of view: She said that I couldn't hold my body up by myself and I had my seatbelt in but was really wobbily. She said I slumped over onto her shoulder and about 30 seconds before she got to the hospital she heard the little "gasps" of air from me and then I stopped breathing. She stopped at the ambulance exit and ran inside telling them her daughter was in the car and wasn't breathing. They brought out a stretcher and two people put me on it. My mom went around and parked the car. She said that by the time she got back in, they had about 8 people around me tryin to get me to breathe. They had to cut my sweatshirt off (sorry hud, it was your soccer sweatshirt). My mom said they let her stay in the emergency room with me. She said even though I was unconscious I was fighting them. I didn't not want the tube down my thoat, but they had to get it down before my throat closed off all the way. She said when I would get really ornery, they would ask her to stand by my head and stroke my forehead and talk to me and tell me everything was goign to be alright. She said it actually helped and it settled me. They got the tube down and then they had to stick a tube down my nose to pump my stomach. I kept trying to pull my tubes out and so they had to strap my hands down to my bed.

See, I was out for the whole night. My mom and my sister Amy Jo stayed with me and switched off watching over me. I was hooked to a breathing machine all night and because my arms were tied down, my mom said i kept sitting up and trying to get my face to my hands to pull out the tubes. I don't remember anything. Tuesday morning I woke up about 7 i think. I don't remember much til about 9, but I do remember one thing. I remember waking up (my mom said I still had the tubes in me) and I had to go to the bathroom. I was hooked up to a machine that I could pee in, but it was clogged or something and it wasn't working. Now, I'm in an ASL class right now and so I couldn't talk, so I signed the sign for bathroom. Of course, nobody could understand me and so I signed J-O-N because my little brother knows a little sign language. He wasn't there yet, so I spelled out B-A-T-H-R-O-O-M and one of the nurses knew the letters. They then unhooked me from all the machines and I was able to go to the bathroom.

From about 9 to 3 I was awake and watched some TV and they let me take a shower because I had throw-up and crap in my hair. Apparently it was really scary and my mom had to watch it all. She's the real hero in all of this because she kept it together. I'm so blessed to have such a great family and the technology that save my life. Anyways, thanks for all the prayers and worries. You guys are the best. I love you all!

Baby Steps Week #3

Let's not really talk about last week's goal... I didn't do so well. But with the help of my mom this week... I'm going to SMASH it! Anyways, the sleeping thing is going well, but I want to add something onto it. As we have all heard "early to bed (which I'm already working on) and early to rise (can you guess my goal for this week?)" Yep, that's right! I'm going to work on getting up earlier. I want to be awake and altert BEFORE i go to my first class. So, for this week, I'm going to wake up at 6:00 a.m. every morning so that I can catch the 7:00 bus in.... I did it this morning and I really do feel great! and I actually learned stuff from my teacher. Waking up earlier will also help my body to go to bed earlier too.

RULES:

1: When my alarm goes off... get out of bed. Whether that's sitting up or rolling off the edge... GET OUT!

2: Turn on lights immidiately so that I can't fall back asleep.

3: After I gain enough consciousness to stand, make my bed.... that way i won't be tempted to fall back into it.

I think this will all help!

P.S. I just wanted to say this real quickly before I go. I've always wondered what I would do when I ran into "him" again. I know i broke his heart, but it was what I had to do. Well, this morning it happened... I walked into the library and there he was... unavoidably. So I went over and said "HI!" He seemed to be doing well, figuring out what he's going to be doing with his life, and I think he's moved on. He did ask a lot of questions about my life and I could tell he couldn't take his eyes off "the ring" but I ignored that subject and figured he didn't need to know. It was actually a really good thing for me because I've always wondered and now I don't. There is nothing there for me anymore and I don't feel anything. I actually kept thinking about a certain Elder in Russia while I was talking to "him." I LOVE ELDER GUNTHER!!! FO SO!!!