Let's Pretend It's Summer...

Well, we all know that Mother Nature seems to have forgotten about summer this year... But hey, it's supposed to get to like... 70 this week!! MAYBE... Anyways... I took such a long time to write about Hawaii - it's time I get caught up with the rest of the summer. :)

Hhh... Summertime. :) This has seriously been the best summer of my life. First Hawaii... then THIS?! What did I do to deserve this amazing life? haha Seriously? So blessed.

First, I may have mentioned this earlier, but once upon a time, before Hawaii - I got a calling. :) When the bishop asked me to come in I got kind of excited thinking I'd be in primary again. But, then I was like "wait... there are no kids in primary!" But, I was still excited. I went in to the room and Brother Eveland said "well, we know we don't have you for long, but we would like to call you to be the second counselor in the Young Woman's Presidency." Whaaaat?! Yeah, NOT expecting that in the slightest. I was stunned. I just sat there kind of laughing like "are you serious?" He was serious. I enthusiastically accepted and then just sat there for a few minutes in awe. I am SO excited. I STILL can hardly contain it and it's been over a month! haha Coolest thing ever. THIS is why I love Sequim. I actually get opportunities here. I'm needed here. I'm wanted here. It's a really, really great feeling. :)
So, that's been AMAZING. I adore Young Women's. I'm the second counselor, so I work with the Beehives. I started the summer with Amy McFarland, Angel Love, and Katelyn Wake. :) They are so adorable. Angel is just living with the McFarlands for the summer cuz her parents moved to Oregon in the middle of the year and didn't want to take her out of school. Her dad used to be a member, but none of them are anymore. They're wonderful tho, I love Angel. We had some good times. :) Our first week, we went over to Sister Linde's and she taught us how to make British Traufles? Troffle? Trouffle? I don't know, but it sounded like Truffle. haha It was fun. :) We've had some other epic times as well: We threw a thank you party for the out going YW leaders, Personal Progress camp party at Port Williams, Badminton battles, Service food drives (doing service, asking for cans in return) and we're planning an epic camping trip pretty soon. :) Angel's last week with us was a few weeks ago, she moved to Oregon, but we had a little party with making a cake from memory (NASTY), then eating repentance cake. haha I got the idea from the May New Era. It was sad to see her go, but I was glad I got to get to know her a little better. :) It's been SO much fun. I work with Sister Marshall (YW President) and Sister Lord (YW 1st Counselor). They are AMAZING. I absolutely LOVE working with them. We have so much fun, and our presidency meetings are the best. :) haha I've also gotten to teach a lot, which I love. :) I teach every week to the beehives our manual lessons. They're fun, but I've also gotten to take fast sunday lessons which are with the whole group. :) I love those ones. My first one, I taught about continually progressing - Keep Moving Forward from Meet the Robinsons. :) Love that movie. But, I was really happy with how that lesson turned out. I just taught another about the infinite worth of a soul and how our worth is absolute and never changes. I felt so strongly about this topic. I hope the girls could understand what I was trying to tell them.
Anyways, Young Women's has been AMAZING. I still can't believe I've been given this opportunity. The Lord is really looking out for me, and I am so grateful for this chance. I love the Young Women. I love serving there, and ... hhh... words can't even express how much I am STILL in awe over all this, how excited I STILL am. haha Every week, I just get so excited. :)

OK - So, as if being given the opportunity of a lifetime wasn't enough... here is my awesome summer part two. :) So, I spent a good couple weeks after Hawaii just job searching. I applied to like... 14 different places? haha now THAT my friends, is job searching. BUT, long story short - the Walgreens could only offer me like 8 hours a week, with a possibility of more hours. I was looking for more, so I kept searching and landed the best job in the WORLD at Banbury Corner in PA. It's the cutest little daycare and I'm just completely in love with it! I get like 38 hours a week and, I am just thrilled. Since then I have received offers at two other places in Sequim (a rehabilitation center, and a lavender farm) to work as well, but none even come close to measuring up to Banbury. :) Four job offers this summer is NOT BAD :) teehee! Anyways, I LOVE my job. I get to work a lot in the baby room. Which is my favorite. We have babies ranging from like 4 months to 15 months. They are usually out by one year, but Brandon Larsen (our 15 month old) is still not walking and we don't feel good about moving him up to the toddler room yet. I love Brandon. He's so cute and he crawls over to me the second I get in the door. Then he holds on to my hands as we practice walking around the room. :) Blake McDaniels is another adorable baby. He's almost a year old, but not walking yet either, so we'll move him over when he walks. He's way close, and SO CUTE. He reminds me of Frodo on LOTR. He LOOKS like Frodo on LOTR. haha! Adorable curly brown hair and piercing blue eyes. Love that kid. We also have Wyatt, Keilana, Charisma, Emma, Madison, Rozelle, Ansel, and Julianna. We will be meeting a few more this coming week, so I'm excited. :)
I also love working in the older kids rooms, which I get to do after the babyroom no longer needs me. (we have a 4 baby to 1 teacher ratio) haha! The toddlers are adorable. One is named Rocco and for some reason, he loves me. The first time I met him, he was screaming in Charlene's arms. She half jokingly was like "want to go to Andrea?" And he came straight to me and stopped crying. I rocked him to sleep and we were buddies. :) Now, every time he sees me he runs straight over to me. A few days ago I walked him to the toddler playground and let him walk in by himself while I got the other kids. He waited for me by the fence and when they closed the gate, he reached out to me and was crying. :( I wasn't allowed in the toddler area cuz I was supposed to be watching the preschoolers, so I couldn't go. :( But it was so sad! I can't figure out why he loves me so much, but he is SO cute, and I love it! :) Abby is another cutie face - she could win the heart of even the hardest soul.
I don't work with the toddlers much tho, usually if I'm not with the babies, I'm with the preschoolers. They're pretty dang adorable too. :) I have one named Tucker who is quite the trouble maker. I laugh my head off every time I'm yelling to him and calling him things like "Come here Tuckaluck!" or calling him TJ after Jen's dog. Or, he's in time out and I'm like "Tucker! Sit Tucker! Tucker, Leave it!" hahah oooh dear. love that kid.

 Of course I have a boy named Isaac, who is automatically my favorite. On my first day I was wearing a flower in my hair and he came up to me and tugged on my sleeve. "Teacher? I really like your flower." SO CUTE!! haha We have a boy named Joelson who was everyones favorite, but he just moved to Texas. :( Alex is the bully. He beats the crap out of people... even teachers. He's huge. But, I am a firm believer in being nice to him and hoping to gain his respect... everyone else is just mean to him. I'm still working on my theory... he's still mean. haha Then there's Dillon. I was automatically drawn to Dillon the first time I heard him talk. YEP - he's got an articulation disorder. :P I love hanging out with him. The other teachers have a really hard time with him cuz he's so hard to understand. The other kids have a hard time too. So, we hang out on the play ground and practice saying "flower" and "cactus" and "catch a tiger by his toe." :) I get so excited when he says something right, and he does too. :) I love that kid. Ooooh Ms. Cassie. I ADORE Cassie. She's one of the smallest of the big kids, but SO stinkin cute! Every time I see her outside she has bubbles in her hand. She loves blowing bubbles, and she also loves swinging. She tries to do them at the same time, but falls out of her seat. Its a sad situation. BUT, every time she falls down and starts to cry, I run over to her, pick her up and say "OOH Cassie! Are you ok?!" and EVERY time, without fail, she says "I wanna Popsicle!" in her oh-so-adorable Cassie talk. They get popsicles if they get really hurt, so she thinks she should always get one. haha She kind of reminds me of what Emily was probably like when she was little. One of the boys was trying to steal her bubbles one day, and she totally growled at him. Made my day. She growls. haha!! I love Cassie. I also have Raef, Cyrus, Shyanne, two Chloe's, Wyatt, Mason, Callum, Brennen, Ivy, Kacy, Klay, Cascade... and that's all I can remember for the moment. Love those kids.

hhh... Anyways, I absolutely love my job. Every day is a new adventure, and no job is perfect, but I think this is about as perfect as it gets. This view will change, of course, once I finally become a Speech Pathologist! teehee!
I just can't believe how blessed I have been. I have the perfect job, the dream calling, and the coolest YSA leaders to boot! They are Ariana and Tyler Miller. They are AMAZING and I look up to Ariana so much. She's 22 and Tyler is like 24 or something and they are just the cutest couple in the world. She has counseled me so much and I am so grateful that they are here this summer. I gave a talk on "Qualities I want in a future husband" in Sacrament meeting, and I was totally dreading it. I had no idea what to say without making it sound like I was miserable because I am not married yet and *gasp* I've been at BYU a whole TWO YEARS! haha definitely NOT how I feel, but getting up and talking in church about how I want to marry Captain Moroni makes me sound desperate. haha Ariana helped me so much to know what to say. She is so wise and wonderful. Tyler is way fun too and he genuinely has interest in people. So kind. He works at Batelle in the secret labs! hehe We went Kayaking yesterday (July 2) and I got to go with them to the docks at Batelle and I felt SO legit! I got to go thru the gate down the disappearing road and I got to see the facilities. Pretty much legit. Best Kayaking trip ever. haha
Also this summer, we had the opportunity to house the new missionary couple, the Sorensen's for a little over a week! :) Over that week, I just grew to love them so much. Sister Sorensen is the most wonderful woman. I just love her. She is so full of love and kindness - so sweet. Brother Sorensen is so wise and always willing to give his advice. I grew to love them so much and I miss them being around. I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to get to know them.

hhh... I love this summer. I have no idea why I have been blessed so much. I feel so in debt to the Lord. I'm having a hard time because life is so perfect right now. I have the perfect job, the perfect calling, amazing friends... I never want to go back to BYU. haha I have just been so blessed here. It's gonna take some serious praying and promptings to convince me to go back.