Devil's Martini...or was it Advocate...

Before...

After...

So last night I went out with a friend who was down from Idaho for spring break. Her 21st birthday was on the 15th of this month and mine was on the 3rd so we decided before she came that we were going to have a joint birthday party! We went out with her older sisters and some of their friends to a place called Devil's Martini...it's a small club/bar in north scottsdale. It was lots of fun!!! We danced, ate and drank the night away!

Your probably all a bit confused right now...

No I did not drink that drink! lol I stuck with good ol H2O!!!! The two girls who were there to celebrate do not drink...ironic?? I thought so too! But it was totally fun!

The pictures were ones I took and sent to another friend as a joke. She new where I was going and it is always a joke with my friends that I am gonna "give in" one day. I took the first pic and sent "YUM!"...she didnt really believe that it was mine but then I sent the second picture with a caption of "that was awesome!"...she still didn't seem to be buyin it. Today she asked me today if I really drank it though so looks like my responses paid off! LOL. Let me assure you...I still have not "given in" and don't ever plan on it.

The night was TONS of fun but I was not so smart and I left my camera in the car...pictures will come as soon as the other girls post them and the ol facebizzle!

Sweet Innocence!

Wednesday night I had the special opportunity of sitting in on a missionary lesson for a girl I have known for a LONG time and her roommate.

My friend Christy is actually friends with the girl and a couple weeks ago she called me in pure excitement telling me that Jocelyn was coming over to her house to talk to the missionaries! I was so excited and proud of Christy for taking that step. For years she had invited Jocelyn to mutual and church and she would come every once in while but not often enough to make Christy feel like it was making an impact. Well, we kind of lost contact with her for a couple years. Then somewhere they ran into each other and Jocelyn tells Christy that her and her sister are moving into the same condos Christy lives in! (which are also the same condos my sister lives in!) A few weeks later Jocelyn's friend Becky moved in to the condo with them.

Jocelyn was on the third lesson where they were talking about the Restoration and the missionaries felt it was time to challenge Jocelyn to be baptized. They set the date for April 11th!!! Becky heard this and with tears in her eyes she innocently asked, "Can I be baptized too?" WOW I cannot even imagine the excitment that flooded through those Elders' minds as they recruited Becky. They decided to give Jocelyn some time to read and pray about her decision while they caught Becky up on what she had not been there for.

My brother in law is a ward missionary in that ward so thought it would be a good idea to have the lesson with both girls at his house so they would have a familiar face at church. I was talking to Christy on Tuesday night and she was telling me about this. She quickly told me I should come, that Jocelyn needed as much support as she could get. I thought "hey why not! it is always good to get a little refresher also!"

We met at my sisters at 7:00 and the lesson started. The missionaries did a great job of simplifying the complicated chapter Becky had read the previous week and helping her understand the basics. I was amazed at how sincere her questions were! Alot of times I feel like people continue to take the lessons just to please people around them, but this girl is special! She knows she has found the missing piece in her life! They went into the Restoration with her and explained alot about prophets and why it is so important for us to follow them. After they finished their "speal" they asked her if she had anymore questions. With a little hesitance and with tears in her eyes she said "I have done things in my life that I am not proud of. How do I fix them? How do I repent?" Tears came to my eyes and as I looked at my sister I could see her crying too!

As "life-time members" I think we think too much about things and make them harder than they really are! Here we have an 18 year old girl who has been living a life a pure confusion. Half of her family is catholic, half non-denominational christian...no real structure. And she wants to know the truth. No matter what it takes she is ready to start again! One of the elders told her she was alot like Joseph Smith in that he was confused and wanted the know the truth...chills?? yeah me too.

The missionaries loved this question and explained to her that NO MATTER what she has done in her life, the minute she is dunked in the waters on baptism, those sins are forgiven, its a clean slate! Becky began to sob when they were telling her this, what a feeling to know that no matter what the Lord loves us and wants us to be happy!

I didn't know Becky before this night but I am glad I do now! I needed that night and the Lord must have known that! It made me ponder on everything in my life. I want to have that feeling of pure and sweet innocence when saying "how can i fix this?" instead of trying to cover it up with life.

They had Becky pray and told her that it was like a sandwich, it has a top bun(addressing the Lord) and a bottom bun(closing in the name of Christ) and the middle is whatever you want it tobe, talk to Him like a friend! She was very nervous but started her innocent preayer. Tears came to my eyes as I felt the overwhelming spirit in the room and could tell by her voice that she wanted this more than anything in the world. She thanked Heavenly Father for allowing her to FINALLY find him and asked Him to bless her with the faith and strength that she needed to get as close as she could to Him! It was as if He were standing in front of her and she was bowing at His feet! It was an amazing experience!

During the lesson when they asked her for her questions, she was having trouble remembering what they were, she had just underlined versus in the chapter. In my mind I was thinking "geez boys why didnt you give her a journal?!?! slackers!!!" haha jk. So after they left I told my sister that thought and she agreed with me. We made a 9:00 stop at Deseret to get two journals for these precious girls so that they can remember these feelings forever. We went on a walk and took them the journals with a card thanking them for the special opportunity to share in this experience with them, signed with our names and our phone numbers. When they opened the door, their eyes lit up! Becky came running from the living room to give us a hug and thank us for our support! WOW what an awesome feeling, something so simple in my mind was such a big thing to her.

This whole experience just makes me reflect on my life and just reminds me that I need to remember to have the simple innocence of a child when taking advantage of the full blessings of this wonderful Gospel! Its just so humbling to see someone coming into the gospel with such adimet and sincere faith and hope. Sometimes I feel like I take it for granted...alot of it!!! Despite our harships, Im so grateful to have my family that I get to spend eternity with and the examples they give to me by helping me make the correct choices and showing me how to get the most out of life! I am hoping and praying that this whole experience reminds Christy of the simpleness of it all and gives her the strength to do what she needs to do to get through the stuggles of her own life!

Thanks to everyone who has done anything in my life to bring out the sweet innocences life has to offer!!!

Knowing When Enough is Enough!!

Anyone who is close to me knows about my living situation right now. Since Christmas things have been...not so happy...yeah that's how I will put it.

I feel like I am an easy person to get along with and I can put up with a lot. Things that have been happening the last 3 months have REALLY been testing that theory of mine. As a youngest child, I was "born to argue!"...and I live up to that! If I "know" you are wrong or if I feel strongly about something, I wont budge until the other person does. There are things in my life that I feel VERY strongly about and I will do what it takes to get people to respect that.

I feel like I am a VERY giving person, sometimes people tell me I give too much to others and not enough to myself. Honestly, I would not be happy if I spent all my time and money on myself...maybe I would be married by now if I spent a little more time on me...maybe not ;). When I give things to people I don't EVER ask for anything in return....just respect and maybe a little gratitude. I am recently being pushed to the edge with this concept and sometimes feel like enough is enough!!!

Am I the selfish, inconsiderate "5-year-old" she says I am?? Do people honestly think I do things so I can stand up and say "but remember when I did this for you?"....Words are convincing and they say actions speak louder than words....when is enough enough????

I KNOW the Lord knew what He was doing when He placed us with our families. Siblings and parents help prepare us for people we will come in contact with and people we will one day marry. My favorite quote over the last few months has been "When Life Throws You Lemons...MAKE LEMONADE!!!" Now I am beginnging to think, how much lemonade do I need to make AND drink before she realizes, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH?!? Everyone I talk to about my "situation" says they would have thrown in the towel a long time ago!! What does that say about me?? Am I a pushover? Am I a pansy that can't stand up for herself? OR is this really just another test that is preparing me for the person that I will spend eternity with?? If it's the last one, I am happy single!!!!! haha

Seriously though!!! How can you say you feel one way one day, but the minute the situation is not benefiting YOU 100%, you flip around and act as though the whole world is crushing down on you???

With past events, not only in my family but in families close to me...I have come to realize that life is too short to waste it on people that don't care! It's too short to live thinking "what would have happened if..." I'm tired of "being the bigger person"!!! I want to be the one that "throws the towel in" and walks away from it her, the one that shoots the lemons as they come at my head instead of grabbing them and offering up my lemonade! When is enough enough in these situations???

Sorry, I just needed to vent...sometimes when you talk to people about these things, their eyes start to glaze over and you know they really aren't hearing you although they pretend to be listening. At least here if you don't want to know, you can stop reading lol...at least I got it out from twirling around in my head and out in the open so I'm not stressing out about it.


Thank you if you made it this far...means alot to me when people care!!!

Aloha Festival

I have never been to the Aloha Fest...but this year Nicole talked me into going with her since it was at such a convenient location...Tempe Town Lake!

If you are thinking, as I did, "what the heck is an aloha fest!?" well, it is a festival that all of the Polynesian's from around Arizona put on once a year. They have all their little shops open where you can buy things that normally you could only find on an island! They have three stages where groups perform anything from traditional dances, to singing songs in their native tongue! Normally it's in North Phoenix, but this year they were lucky enough to get Tempe to allow them to use the town park.

I had never really heard of it but it was cool! We got there around 1:30 and stayed until about 4. We ate yummy Hawaiian food and fresh lemonade! There were TONS of people and lots of things to spend lots of money on! lol I was smart and didn't even take my wallet...I don't have anything to spare right now ;).

We ended the day by watching a couple groups perform at the main stage. It is crazy how fast those people can move their hips!!! lol

Friday the 13TH!

This year is weird and there were two Friday the 13th's twice in a row!! Scary?? Well if I was superstitious I might be scared but I am the furthest from it!

For the occasion in February I believe I was hanging out with Josh, Stefani and Nick....kind of what happened everyday for 6 weeks haha...this month though...Josh is gone :( Sad I know. I decided that I didn't really want to sit at home and think about things so I took Nicole up on her offer to go to the Freaky Friday the 13th/St. Patrick's Day party at Rockin R Ranch. It was the first party I ever went to with Nicole last year so she decided we need to keep up with the tradition...oK!

She decided she wanted to take me to Outback first because I had never been there and she missed my birthday. I decided hey why not, free food!! haha

After dinner we went to my house to get ready and I filled her in on my birthday week events!!! ;)
The party started at 9 but who honestly goes RIGHT when it starts??? UM NO ONE! lol

We left my house at about 10:15 ready for some fun!!

When we pulled into the parking lot we were not impressed!! Last year there were AT LEAST 200 people...this year...maybe 100...kind of lame!

We decided to give it time because more people HAD to show up!! It got a little better and we ended up having a fun time! Nicole had to leave at 11:30 because she lives in Anthem now and had to get back to pick up her aunt. We went back to my house and took some pictures so we could remember the night...let me just tell you that Nicole and I are famous for taking bad pictures!!!!

The Big 2-1!

So today is my 21st birthday! Woopdy freakin doo!! I keep telling my coworkers that it's just another day!

For the past couple of days I have been telling my friends that I wish someone would send me flowers at work...its so exciting to get something delivered to you! Well today when I woke up I had a big vase of daisies on the fish tank at home with my name on them AND when I arrived at work, there was a vase of carnations handed to me in a tall vase! Did they get delivered? No but flowers all in the same AND it still feels good to know people care :) The girls at work threw me a potluck today at work with DELICIOUS croissant sandwiches and cupcakes! It's awesome how fast we have all connected, I love it!

So you may be thinking...Bre you're 21, what do you plan to do now?!?!
My answer to that question is the same as every year, GO TO DISNEYLAND!!! haha jk, no I am probably going to get wrapped into going to Lehi Days because my stake loves me SO much they make it happen EVERY year the weekened of my birthday! haha

I wanted to go to the Renaissance Festival but people are bailing so I dont think that is going to happen. Other than that I have no real plans. Vegas? Casino? Bar Hoppin? Clubbin? nope not for me. Like I said, in the LDS world, 21 is just another number haha.

On Sunday night at dinner my brother SO KINDLY reminded me that I have beat everyone else in my family for staying single the longest...everyone else was married when they celebrated their 21st bday...thanks bro, makes me feel AWESOME! lol So, if anyone knows of any available, attractive, dependable, humorous, tall, child-loving, goal oriented, patient, 21-26 year old men(ok ok ok maybe im a little picky, but really is it too much to ask???) let me know! haha


So much has happened in the last year that its crazy to think I made it to this point! But looking back I know that all the experiences in life happen for a reason and to make us the people we have to be to make the most of our lives. Thanks to everyone for your birthday wishes! They mean alot!!!

P.S.
You think Im joking about the guys?? Well newsflash, IM NOT GETTIN ANY YOUNGER!!!!

hahahaha