My Life

NEW BLOG

2011-08-13T11:58:00.001-07:00

www.danielandambert.blogspot.com

???

2011-04-19T12:43:00.000-07:00

Why can't I change anything on my blog anymore? I want to make it look cute again and I don't have the options that I used to on blogspot. Anyone else experiencing this? I want to get rid of this dumb template, how do I delete a template?

New Chapter: When California City Girl Meets Small Town Country Boy

2011-04-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

They will probably hit it off when the meet and feel like they've already known each other forever, be so comfortable around each other and become instant best friends. Small town boy will make city girl laugh the hardest she's ever laughed, all the time. City girl will blow small town boys mind when she shows him around town. They will be a perfect, and I mean perfect match for each other. They will plan many trips together. Small town guy will treat this city girl like a queen, and make her feel like the most special and luckiest girl ever. Her family will love him. His family will love her. Together, they can do anything, and everything is so simple. Everything will work in their favor, and the timing could not be any perfect. Stay tuned for more....

KISSING

2011-04-01T15:38:00.000-07:00

I LOVE THIS SONG! This is such a fun feel good summer love song! AND I LOVE THIS ONE TOO! I'm happy.

Happy New Year

2011-01-30T19:47:00.000-08:00

Highlights of 2010 in no specific order:

Another precious nephew and a niece were born. Cadrian born to Conrade and Steva, and Amelia born to Tami and Kristina.

Moving to La Jolla and being in an amazing location, picnics and naps on the beach almost daily, roommate bike rides up and down the coast, late night talks with Angelique and the other roomies, endless house parties.

A couple of young and fun flings

Sacramento visits

Visit from Brianne

Girly girl Weekend in San Diego with Brianne and Claire

Going through the San Diego temple and receiving my endowment

My birthday weekend. Tim McGraw concert and Under the Sea party

My adventure in San Francisco. I flew up with no plans (so unlike me), got off the plane jumped on Bart and spent the day alone in the city exploring, talking with strangers, taking tours, and shopping.

Michael and Dayani’s wedding in the bay area. The whole family was able to be there.

Moving back to Poway and away from the dramatic and crazy roommates

Road trip to Salt Lake City for General Conference, visiting with family and friends

Reuniting with Austin in Salt Lake. Date night = Not sleeping and talking all night, tons of laughs, some happy tears, singing ridiculous songs, inside jokes, lots of fun. His visits to San Diego, my visits to Phoenix

Annual Fortner family Christmas Party!! I spent a weekend with Brandon’s family there are not enough words to explain how awesome it was to be with them

Temple trips with friends. Being at the temple when my sister Kandis went through for the first time

Ending things for good with Austin. Asking him to never contact me ever again unless he is proposing. I got the closure I needed since we reconnected and am now moving on.

Conrade, Kaison and Cadrian come to San Diego for a visit. Cadrian stayed for a few weeks and I went over to Mom’s a couple times a week to love on him! I’m a tad obsessed with my nephews and I miss them!

Mom’s birthday. Mom and I went to Glen Ivy for a day of relaxation and pampering

Visits to LA to spend time with Bekah and Michelle. I so love these friends of mine. Since Bekah’s husband was out on tour she got a babysitter one night and her and I went out on the town. We walked down Sunset Boulevard and explored Hollywood. Michelle and I went shopping during the day and I got to meet her daughter for the first time.

Being in the La Jolla ward and meeting a lot more people in San Diego. Making new friends.

Starting a kickball team, being team captain and then tearing my quad and not being able to play

Spending a day with Heather and Austin Perry (had to throw in that last name) at Mom’s house/Resort (Connie and Mike’s house)

Dating myself. I took myself on really fun dates in 2010. I figure if nobody else is going to do it I might as well because I deserve it and I’m worth it. Just for the record I am tons of fun!

A camping trip with Liz and Kandis that went all wrong. We should have known it was going south when we couldn’t even figure out how to set up the tent!

Knott’s Berry Farm with Grandma and Grandpa Reed, my dad and my siblings minus Conrade plus my cousin Nathanial and his girlfriend. Grandpa went on every wild ride, even the ones that terrified me. Totally shocking behavior from my grandpa, it was a blast.

Thanksgiving at Grandma Peg’s house. Everyone was able to make it except for Jenae, and Tami’s family. Late nights, long talks, tons of laughs, lots of noise, amazing food, and a lot of card and board games.

Latin dancing every Wednesday night at a club downtown. (Kind of a big deal since I don’t usually dance at all!)

Running my first 5k. It was to support a program that helps homeless youth

Things happening and things I’m looking forward to in 2011:

A new job! I’m going to be a Chiropractor's Assistant, and help manage his business. I’m so excited to not be at the same crappy company I’ve worked at for the past two years. It was horrible.

School. By the end of this year I’m going to have more school under my belt and be that much closer to getting my bachelors degree, or even an Associates for that matter. I’m happy to just be in school and get it done!

Another Nephew and Niece that we know of will be born this year. Conrade and Steva are having a girl due at the end of May and Trisha and Oscar are having a boy, she’s due May 12^th.

My best friend is having her third baby

I’m planning another trip to the bay area to visit B’s family. Love them!

My birthday weekend!

I’m not really looking forward to this but I need to just say it and get used to it and be over it! I’m probably not going to be able to take any long vacations because I’ll be in school or broke because I’m paying for school.

The random things I’ll do to reward myself for minor accomplishments this year. Oh, I’m so good at that!

Things are different this year and life is changing for me. I’m excited, anxious, a tad scared, a bit frustrated with the way this school semester has started, but overall I am happy and grateful for my life and another year to live it.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Now is the time

2010-05-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

"Now, my brethren and sisters, the time has come for us to stand a little taller, to lift our eyes and stretch our minds to a greater comprehension and understanding of the grand millennial mission of this The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is a season to be strong. It is a time to move forward without hesitation, knowing well the meaning, the breadth, and the importance of our mission. It is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow. It is a time to be found keeping the commandments. It is a season to reach out with kindness and love to those in distress and to those who are wandering in darkness and pain. It is a time to be considerate and good, decent and courteous toward one another in all of our relationships. In other words, to become more Christlike."
Gordon B. Hinckley, "This Is the Work of the Master," Ensign, May 1995,

Dating my roommate!

2010-05-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

We live here. no big deal

the lunch we shared. romantic.
Showing off her full tummy.

On Monday I slept in, finally woke up, felt like crap for something stupid that happened the night before and then talked to Angelique all morning. (she doesn't really work either, at this point I'm not sure who is worse about not going into work) Ang begged me to go with her to pick up her boyfriend from the airport, and I drive so that she didn't have to be stuck with him all day. I finally agreed, threw jeans on and brushed my teeth. Lovely. No makeup, no hair do, no bra.

We went downtown, realized we had some time to kill, grabbed lunch and went down to harbor island to eat. We both agreed that if we were on a date with a guy it would have been a total success. Everything was perfect! Gorgeous weather, yummy food, parking, no people, beautiful view, and lots of laughs. When Mike called we jumped in the car and drove across the street to get him and drive him home. When WE got home I showered and got into my bathing suit. We walked down to the beach and brought our scriptures, and an extra Book of Mormon to give away. (Don't worry that we've been handing Books of Mormon out like candy, and having lots of recent missionary moments together.) Go team! We read scriptures and laid out. We invited a guy to read scriptures with us and then gave him that Book of Mormon. Turns out it was his birthday and he had taken the day off work and was just hanging out until his buddies got off work.

I love that I have such great roommates and that I get along with all of them especially Angelique, it'd be terrible to share a room with someone you can't get along with. We've decided that it would be so much fun to start going out with each other instead of random guys (or in her case, her boyfriend). I'm not sure how serious she is about it but I am totally in love with the idea! Think about it. We could go or do anything we wanted, spoil ourselves, get completely dolled up or be a total bum and it wouldn't matter. We could unbutton our jeans after we ate, talk about other guys or our ex-boyfriends and neither one of us would get jealous. We don't have to feel pressure about kissing after the date, we can go home together and there isn't any awkward or regretful feelings the next day. Brilliant!

Cutest roommates you've ever seen!

Thank you Sugarland

2010-04-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

Settlin'

Fifteen minutes left to throw me together

For mister right now, not mister forever

Don't know why I even try when I know how it ends

Looking like another "maybe we could be friends"

I've been leaving it up to fate

It's my life so it's mine to make

I ain't settling for just getting by

I've had enough so so for the rest of my life

Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high

Just enough ain't enough this time

I ain't settling for anything less than everything, yeah

With some good red wine and my brand new shoes

Gonna dance a blue streak around my living room

Take a chance on love and try how it feels

With my heart wide open yeah you know I will

Find what it means to be the girl

Change her mind and change her world

I ain't settling for just getting by

I've had enough so so for the rest of my life

Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high

Just enough ain't enough this time

I ain't settling for anything less than everything

I ain't settling for just getting by

I've had enough so so for the rest of my life

Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high

Just enough ain't enough this time

I ain't settling for just getting by

I've had enough so so for the rest of my life

Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar highI ain't settling no, no, no, no, no, no, ohhh

So raise the bar high

I love this song.

Busy Weekend

2010-04-27T16:57:00.000-07:00

My brother Conrade, his fiance Steva and their sweet little baby boy came to San Diego for a short visit on their way up North. They moved into a house in Sacramento over the weekend. Cadrian stayed with my mom and she drove him up to them yesterday I think. Cade looks just like my brother, minus the small eyes, he's got steva's eyes. My brother makes some dang cute babies though!

Evan's birthday was on Friday. I surprised him by going to his school and taking him out early, and then went out for frozen yogurt. We had a family birthday dinner and celebration for him that evening.

I got home super late from my mom's house Friday night. Saturday morning I went on an ALL day date, which I'm not blogging about. 11:00am - 3:00am. I did get new boots out of it though. Brand new cowboy boots, the real kind and a hat too!

Sunday I woke up early to write my talk that I was giving in sacrament meeting. I had a major anxiety attack right before it was time to go to church. The whole thing was pretty commical. My roommate had to drive me because I couldn't even drive! It was terrible. I made it through my talk. Barely. Pretty sure it was terrible and worst talk ever givin in church! I'm just glad its over. Probably next time I'm asked to speak I'll write it before the morning of and not stay out until 3am the night before! Sheesh.

?????

2010-04-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

If I marry a short man will I have midget babies?? This is important! I need to know.

Weekend in LA

2010-04-21T12:07:00.001-07:00

I love this girl!!

Bekah and her cute family

Pretty girls

Cousins

Karali & Trevor's baby, Reagan

Karali and Trevor

Mom and baby Reagan (Please look at Evan in the background! silly boy)

Welcome home Nathanial!

My cousin just got home from serving a mission in Peru.

Cute baby Jude!

Sweet lil Julisa

Big boy burger

Me, Michelle, and her baby shopping in LA (sooo fun!!)

These pictures are in random order. Last weekend I went up to LA to visit family and friends, it was so much fun! Bekah and Cole were nice to let me stay with them. Friday night Bekah and I went to yogurtland and stayed up late talking. Saturday I shopped the day away with Bekah in the morning and then Michelle in the afternoon. I'm pretty happy with my purchases, including the coconut palm tree! Oh, don't worry I drove home with a TREE in my backseat, no big deal! ha. A cute pair of Diesels for $40!! Amazing. It was so fun to hang out and talk with Bekah! I can't believe that I hadn't seen Michelle in FOUR years! I love her and had such a fun afternoon with her and her daughter. Saturday night I drove up to Cypress to my cousin Nathanial's welcome home/goodbye party. His family moved to Colorado while he was serving a mission. It was fun to hang out with family, my family drove up from San Diego too. Sunday I went to church with my Uncle and his family to hear Nathanial speak in two different wards, then had dinner and hung out.

Being around people you love is the BEST! I miss having close friends around.

Truth be told...

2010-04-15T12:51:00.001-07:00

I ♥ John.

Lone Ranger

2010-04-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

This sign hangs above my bed. (I love love) Last week my roommates Fiona and Angelique, Mike (Angelique's guy) and me were all in the bedroom talking. In the middle of our conversation Fiona blurts out "OH! It says love!" Angelique and I looked at each other and started laughing a little bit, then Fiona says "Chica I always thought your sign said lone! That is why I always try to be extra nice to you because I thought you were so lonely!" I probably just about died of laughter!! After Angelique and I were able to get a grip and stop laughing so loud and so hard Fiona says "Chica you're just so full of love, I don't feel bad for you anymore".

This story still makes me laugh!! Probably the funniest thing is that she really was always extra nice to me and would always try to talk to me about guys and wanted to know if I was interested in anyone!

I thought of this incident today when I got back to my desk and listened to a voicemail that was on my work phone. There wasn't anyone talking, it was just a song. It was an oldies song that sounded familiar, it was about a lonely man! As I'm sitting at my desk listening to this ridiculous song on my voicemail I burst out in laughter and my boss walks by so I asked her if she left me a voicemail. I had her listen to it and she just started laughing. It's still a mystery as to who left the message. It was probably someone who called and then had to put me on hold but I wasn't at my desk so it went to voicemail and that song just happened to be playing on their end. Whatever it is and whoever did it, it's hilarious! (I work with a bunch of clowns and practical jokes occur on a daily basis so who knows)

Thanks for the concern everyone but like I said before, I'm enjoying my alone time. I know it seems strange that I don't have many dating stories to share, or even one guy to talk to you about right now but it's fine I promise. I may be a lil lone ranger at the moment but that will change in no time so no need to worry.

PS please please please stop asking me! I'll let you know when I'm in a relationship again...mmmm k thanks. Stay tuned.

new blog

2010-04-07T15:20:00.000-07:00

www.g-fgoodness.blogspot.com

Blogging my gluten-free food. We'll see how it goes.

Happy Wednesday!

a girl can dream...right?

2010-03-29T17:08:00.000-07:00

Gets me every time.

2010-03-29T10:33:00.000-07:00

Every time I hear or sing this song I get that warm feeling inside, goosebumps on the outside, and tears in my eyes. Every time.
ESPECIALLY if a child is singing this song!

1. I’m trying to be like Jesus;I’m following in his ways.I’m trying to love as he did, in all that I do and say.At times I am tempted to make a wrong choice,But I try to listen as the still small voice whispers,

2. I’m trying to love my neighbor;I’m learning to serve my friends.I watch for the day of gladness when Jesus will come again.I try to remember the lessons he taught.Then the Holy Spirit enters into my thoughts, saying:

Chorus “Love one another as Jesus loves you.Try to show kindness in all that you do.Be gentle and loving in deed and in thought,For these are the things Jesus taught.”

Balance

2010-03-26T10:35:00.001-07:00

Life is one big balancing act. The key is finding a healthy balance between everything that goes on in our busy lives. Some months I'm great at this and other months I just plain suck at it. When I start feeling like I'm juggling too many things and I'm spreading myself thin and going crazy trying to do everything I possibly can in a 24 hour day I have to stop and re-group. This is when I have to literally sit down and talk myself through everything, write down a schedule and prioritize my life. Once I've got my priorities straight again, I can move forward calmly, with a new attitude and everything just seems to balance out nicely. I love doing this, and I love that I have the ability to put myself in check every now and then.

Being balanced, organized, and simple makes me happy.

Yum.

2010-03-25T17:33:00.001-07:00

Thanks Betty Crocker for this. Totally made my night.

Dirty lil Secret

2010-03-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm coming clean.
Out of the closet.
This may shock some of you, but others have already caught on.

I AM ADDICTED TO CHOCOLATE!!

It's actually becoming quite a problem.
Seriously.
The real problem might be that I don't want to give it up!
Chocolate is always there for me through the happy and sad times.
It's a drug, a really great one! Chocolate can make anything better!
I'm in love with CHOCOLATE!
This is terrible for a couple of reasons.

1. addictions period are no good and can lead to other problems. (right?)
2. It's not helping me get my beach body back!!!!!!!!

So, uh I'm going to go grab a Snickers and think about what to do about this little chocolate obsession of mine.

one is the loneliness number...

2010-03-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

Do you know this song by the Beatles?

"One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do

Two can be as bad as one, its the loneliest number since the number one

No is the saddest experience you'll ever know

Yes is the saddest experience you'll ever know

cause one is the loneliest number that you'll ever know

one is the loneliest number

even worst then two yeah its just no good anymore since you went away

now I spend my time just making up rhymes of yesterday

one is the loneliest number

one is the loneliest number

one is the loneliest number since you went away"

This song just came to mind as I was thinking about my perfect day yesterday and the conversation I had with a friend.

Lately most of my time has been spent alone. I am not complaining, and I'm not upset or looking for pity. I like my alone time. Sometimes I LOVE my alone time. I need alone time at least once a day. When I used to be really busy, sometimes the only alone time I could get was in the car on my way to work, and I cherished that 15 minute drive. Other times it would just be a quick 5 minute break.

This is a really cool time in my life, I am learning so much and I really feel like every day I am wiser, more mature, and happier than the previous day. I feel incredibly spoiled to be living where I live, to have the things that I do, and to know the people who I know. Life is good.

I can honestly say that I've been having fun doing things by myself. It's easy. It's quiet, and there is something to be said about having quiet moments. It's relaxing and rejuvenating. It does get lonely though from time to time. I went on a hike yesterday with a friend that I hadn't talked to since last summer. He does everything alone. EVERYTHING. I used to always feel bad for him. We had a good talk yesterday as we were hiking up the mountain. He told me that the main reason he started doing things on his own is because people are so noncommittal and flakey. We are all guilty of it, we've all said that we would do something or be somewhere and then we weren't. Sometimes it's not our fault, and circumstances get in the way. I can't stand it when people bail out on me, especially at the last minute. So why do I do it to other people? This is something I'm working on and want to be better at by the end of this year, I don't' want to be known as a flake. My friend said that he just got tired of everyone saying that they would go somewhere or do something with him and then NOT, so he just started doing things alone. We agreed that it is better to live your life and to explore, travel and do the things you want rather then just waiting on someone else to do them with you.

I'm at the point now, where I'm tired of waiting around. Tired of waiting for someone to say yes, for someone to go, for someone to meet me somewhere. It's annoying. Frustrating, and disappointing. This friend of mine that I was talking to has been married before (he's divorced now) so he knows what it's like to have that constant companionship. I know what it's like to have that constant companionship. Most days I wish I had that. A lot of days I miss having someone special around. I think this is good though, it all feels healthy. For probably the first time in my life I don't have this feeling of NEEDING to be with someone, I'm not hooking up with any random guy, I'm not looking for attention. I'm just living my life...alone. Someone will come, he will fall for me and know that I am a catch. The time will come, Heavenly Father has told me so, so for now I'm just trusting Him. I'm trusting in His timing and in the plan he has for me. I'm continually working to be a better person, and to use better use of my time. I feel like I'm so far from my potential, but I am taking steps to get there. I've always been a little bit slower then others, but I always get there.

Cups

2010-03-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

I was recently introduced to "Cups", a cupcake lounge! It's in La Jolla, by the cove where all the cute and fun little shops are located. The inside of Cups is pink and oh so very cute! They have a ton of flavors to choose from, all the ingredients are organic and my favorite thing about Cups is that they have GLUTEN FREE cupcakes!!! Very Yummy!

Check out their website -- http://cupslj.com/

SNOWBOARDING!

2010-03-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

I finally went snowboarding for the first time. I got a sweet deal from my friend Maren. We went up to big bear at 5am on Saturday and took lessons and snowboarded all day. I love it! I'm not sporty kind of girl, and I never really thought I could be a WINTER sporty kind of girl but it might work. I'm going again soon, I've already talked to a couple of guys who have connections with cabins up in big bear. A weekend trip to snowboard is already in the making.

Game ON...

2010-03-08T16:21:00.000-08:00

Here we go again, I'm back in the game. Oh how I love the dating game. Can I just say that I had the BEST two months of nothing but peace and loveliness and total alone time, completely free from MEN. I've literally been a loner and it's so funny because my roommates don't know me very well, and think that being home alone all the time is the norm for me. Bahahaha! A couple of weeks ago I was sitting on the couch in my pj's eating a nice dinner that I cooked for myself and was watching The Wedding Planner. Fiona came home and said "don't you ever go out? do you date at all? Don't you even have a crush on someone? We need to get you out!". One side of me wanted to laugh hysterically in her face and the other side of me kind of, sort of started to feel a little bit pathetic. I didn't say anything though, I just giggled a little bit and said "nope". haha.

Don't get me wrong, I love guys and it's not that I don't want to date, because if I didn't want to I just simply wouldn't go out with anyone. The good news is that during this alone time I have been able to do a little soul searching and figure out a little better about what it is that I want. I'm getting a little bit closer to finding him each time, I can totally feel it. I am so so sooooo grateful for every guy I've dated and had a relationship with, I've learned so much from these guys. Shout out to Brandon, Austin, Jon, and John! I feel like they've helped me the most out of everyone, and I LOVE each of them for it!

Advise I got from my 31 year old roommate last night -- "Get married before you're 30, because once you get out of the YOUNG single adult wards it just gets ugly. There are some WEIRDOS out there, and some real creeps." Amen. I remember my mom telling me similar things from when she was dating again after her and dad got divorced. I'm starting to see the truth in those statements. I went out with a guy who is 35 years old this weekend, first of all I didn't know he was that old, the guy is HOT. Second I'm pretty sure he has a girlfriend that he is LIVING with, no big deal. Sheesh!

Anyway, it's nice being in a new area and meeting new people. So far I've met some really amazing people and I'm grateful for this opportunity to start fresh and make new friends.

In love

2010-03-04T08:55:00.000-08:00

I've got summer on my mind. I'm thinking beach, sun, sand, pool, boating, attempting to surf, cruise, cold drinks, pedicures, cute sandals, no makeup, shorts, summer dresses, palm trees, beach and beach! Please look at this adorable one piece bathing suit! Who says you can't be cute and modest? I'm in LOVE with it. It's even got some shimmer to it, who doesn't like to sparkle and shine a lil!?!

I also like this one, I think it would probably be very flattering on.

I FEEL A SHOPPING SPREE COMING ON REAL REAL REEEAAAALLLLLLL SOON! And this, this makes me happy as can be.

I just haven't met him yet...

2010-02-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

This song makes me smile!

just because I feel like it

2010-02-23T10:20:00.000-08:00

"True, enduring happiness, with the accompanying strength, courage, and capacity to overcome the greatest difficulties, will come as you center your life in Jesus Christ. Obedience to His teachings provides a secure ascent in the journey of life. That takes effort. While there is no guarantee of overnight results, there is the assurance that, in the Lord's time, solutions will come, peace will prevail, and happiness will be yours." --Richard G. Scott

"We can’t predict all the struggles and storms in life, not even the ones just around the next corner, but as persons of faith and hope, we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the best is yet to come." --L Tom Perry (Let Him Do It With Simplicity)

"Men & women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace."--President Ezra Taft Benson

"Receiving the Holy Ghost is the therapy which effects forgiveness and heals the sin-sick soul."--Marion G. Romney

"May God help us to be a little kinder, showing forth greater forbearance, to be more forgiving, more willing to walk the second mile, to reach down and lift up those who may have sinned but have brought forth the fruits of repentance, to lay aside old grudges and nurture them no more." --Gordon B. Hinkley

"Where love is, there is no disputation. Where love is, there is no contention. Where love is, there God will be also." --Thomas S. Monson

"Our motives and thoughts ultimately influence our actions. Jesus repeatedly emphasized the power of good thoughts and proper motives: 'Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not' (D&C 6:36). "In Proverbs we read, 'For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he' (Proverbs 23:7)." --Dieter F. Uchtdorf

"Let us all recognize that each of us is a son or daughter of our Father in Heaven, who loves all of His children." --Gordon B. Hinkley

" 'No one can assist in this work [unless] he shall be humble and full of love' (D&C 12:8). 'By love serve one another' (Gal. 5:13). Just as service is a natural consequence of love, so is love a natural consequence of service. Husbands, serve your wives. Wives, serve your husbands. Husbands and wives, serve your children. And to all we say, serve God and neighbor. As we do so, we will come to love the object of our devotion and thus be obedient to the first and great commandment of love." --Robert F. Orton

"By the way you live the gospel, you reflect [the Savior's] light. Your example will have a powerful effect for good on the earth. 'Arise and shine forth, that thy light may be a standard for the nations' (D&C 115:5) is a call to each of you. It is a call to move to higher ground. It is a call to leadership—to lead out in decency, purity, modesty, and holiness. It is a call to share this light with others. It is time to 'arise and shine forth.' " --Elaine Dalton

"Sisters, don't be afraid to be different in our century! Sometimes we have to be different in order to maintain Church standards. So I repeat, don't be afraid to be different, but be as good as you can be." --James E. Faust

"A woman with a mother heart has a testimony of the restored gospel, and she teaches the principles of the gospel without equivocation. She is keeping sacred covenants made in holy temples. Her talents and skills are shared unselfishly. She gains as much education as her circumstances will allow, improving her mind and spirit with the desire to teach what she learns to the generations who follow her." --Julie Beck

"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity." --Margaret D. Nadauld

"The Priesthood . . . is a perfect order and system of government, and this alone can deliver the human family from all the evils which now afflict its members, and insure them happiness and felicity hereafter." --Brigham Young

Smiling

2010-02-18T17:50:00.001-08:00

Life is good.

WELCOME

2010-02-09T12:29:00.000-08:00

(These pictures aren't the best, they came from my mom's cell phone)

Cadrian Blaine Thomas Reed was born on Sunday February 7th at 2:25pm. He came 3 weeks early and weighed 5 lbs 3oz and was 19 inches long. I can't wait to meet this little guy! Congrats to my brother Conrade and his girlfriend Steva, I love you guys.

August 21, 2010

2010-02-08T12:07:00.001-08:00

LDS SINGLES CRUISE TO....

THE BAHAMAS!!!

Kristin's Life...

2010-02-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

I have to apologize in advance for being such a terrible writer; English has never been my favorite subject, or even one that I was good at. Kristin I’m sorry if I put words in your mouth, there is no way I can express what you are feeling. This is my story of a piece of your life through my eyes. Thank you for letting me share it and be a part of it!

I always knew of Kristin, I knew who she was, everyone does. She is full of life, super spunky, fun to be around, optimistic, has tons of friends, and is super cute among many other things! Kristin and I didn’t become close until about a year (maybe two years) ago. We were sitting at the Hamilton’s for FHE when she started talking about her birth-mom and a little about her adoption story. I don’t remember the details of what she was talking about but I was interested in what she was saying, I’m pretty sure she was talking to my sisters Trisha, and Kandis. I pulled my chair up to be in the little circle they were in, and listened. At one point during the conversation Trisha looked at me and asked me a question about my thoughts as a birth-mom. Kristin looked a little confused and then I asked her if she knew that I had a baby that I had placed. Kristin is so cute, she got all excited and something along the lines of “WHAT!? I didn’t know that! You can be MY birth-mom anytime!” That’s how it started; we talked and talked, laughed and cried.

We shared adoption stories with each other and talked about what it was like to be a birth-mom (me) and an adopted child (her). She always had a positive outlook on adoption and always expressed gratitude to her family and her birth-mom, which always made me happy and gave me peace. Since I’ve known Kristin she has been dying to know her birth-family, and her birth-mom most of all. (She had a closed adoption). One night when I was at Kristin’s house we went in her bedroom and she closed the door, we sat on her bed and she pulled out a file folder. “Look!” she said. It was a file her parents kept with all of her adoption paperwork, a few letters from Kristin’s birth-mom, and a couple of old pictures. I don’t think Kristin’s parents knew she had that folder, she found it and it was like finding hidden treasure. It was exciting! She had discovered a piece of who she is and her little bit of background information, a piece that she had always been curious about. We read the letters that her birth-mom had sent to Kristin’s mom, we looked at the pictures and cried and laughed some more. That night we also got on facebook and tried doing a little bit of investigative work (aka stalking), but didn’t get too far. There were a few things holding her back from contacting her birth-family. Mostly she’s never wanted to hurt her family, her real family. Kristin's family has other adoptive kids and they had a bad experience with Kristin’s sister’s birth-mom, so Kristin was more sensitive to her family especially her parents’ feelings on this matter.

Kristin moved up to Utah in August, and she’s been having a blast and making me miss Utah! Punk. Anyway, very long story short, (this is probably the part where you will want to read her blog for the details) she found out that her birth-brother (technically her biological half brother) works a MILE away from where she is living in Provo! She had a ton of experiences that led up to her birth-mom e-mailing her on facebook! There is WAY too much information, experience, and emotion in this part of her story for ME to share, I’ll leave that to her. I was on the phone with her when she got the e-mail from her birth-mom and we both just freaked out a little! Kristin started secretly (sorry girl I just blew it, guess it’s not so secret now!) e-mailing her birth-mom, they e-mailed a million times in like a two or three day time period. There are a few reasons why this was so fun and exciting for me. The first reason is that my sweet Kristin forwarded me the e-mails that were going back and forth between her and her birth-mom. The second reason is obvious; I’m a birth-mom and dreamed about this moment happening in my own life someday with Claire. The third reason is that I love Kristin and I know how much she had been anticipating and anxiously waiting for this time in her life! So for the past couple of weeks I have felt like I’m in a movie, or like I’m watching a really amazing movie that I can’t take my eyes off of!

Watching Kristin find her birth-mom and start learning new things about her birth-family has been an exciting, emotional, and heartwarming experience for me. I can’t really explain it and I know it sounds ridiculous but I swear I can feel the emotions that they are experiencing. I love adoption stories, I love happy endings. There has been nothing but pure love, joy, and happiness in this experience. Anyone who says adoption is selfish and terrible really has no idea, and Kristin’s story like so many other adoption stories will prove it! I can’t help but think about Claire and her adoption story. How grateful I am for listening to the Holy Ghost and placing Claire for adoption. She has the most amazing family and really has such a great life, she is one lucky girl! I know that Claire and I will be friends one day, I wonder what it will be like and I wonder what kinds of questions she will want to ask me. Timing is everything for any situation, and when you hear Kristin tell her story you will know and see that this was not just a coincidence, Heavenly Father had everything to do with the timing of Kristin and her birth-mom meeting (even if it has only been through e-mail and facebook so far). Adoption is a miracle and Heavenly Father has defiantly had His hand in all the adoption stories I’ve heard.

I will never be able to fully express the love I have for Claire and for Brianne and Trevor. My life would not be the same without them. Claire saved my life, literally. I would not be on the path I am now if it wasn’t for her, and for that I am forever grateful. Adoption is a sacred and precious thing for all who are involved, there are things that cannot really be explained unless you have experienced them yourself.

Adoption = LOVE

Kristin will be blogging about this soon I'm sure, her blog address is www.kristindavies.com

I love you girl! I'm excited for this new chapter that is opening up in your life.

wishing today was a lazy day

2010-02-03T10:12:00.001-08:00

Today is one of those days that I wish I could just lay in bed with someone and spend the whole day doing nothing! I'm sleepy and want to be lazy, but I want company. Someone I can snuggle up to and kiss, but not just anyone, someone special. I want a few more days of 'nothing' in my life. Is that a bad thing, to want to be lazy and do nothing?

Skinny Jeans

2010-02-01T22:11:00.000-08:00

I lost 10 pounds just from being gluten free for two weeks. My skinny jeans fit again and my confidence level just went up about a million points. I finally have been working out again and I can't even explain how amazing that feels. I signed up with my sisters and mom to run a marathon to benefit Autism at the end of March. Yay for getting back into shape! I've been an uncomfortable fat blob for way too long now.

Drunken phone calls...or I mean...SLEEP TEXTING

2010-01-29T13:45:00.000-08:00

So apparently I text in my sleep! This is so embarrassing...I totally sent AUSTIN a text last night and I didn't even know it till just NOW! It wasn't a short I miss you or I'm thinking about you text either it was a little longer than that. I'm embarrassed to even write what I said to him! It's not like I can just call him or text him and say hey sorry about last night I was SLEEPING. haha, He would never believe me and he'd probably be more irritated that I was contacting him (again). Oh well I guess, what can ya do?

Since his name has already come up, let me just say that I freakin MISS that guy! It's taken a long time for me to be able to even look at a picture of us or him with out crying. (Is that pathetic?) Anyway, since I'm moving soon I'm cleaning things out and organizing things and I love looking at pictures of us! It's so fun and it still stings a little bit, but a few times this month I have found myself just thinking about something him and I did together and I just laugh and laugh. I had a dream a couple of weeks ago and I won't go into detail because my dreams have TONS of detail, but basically him and I were friends. My dream felt so real and it was so fun talking to him and being friends again. In my dream he had a girlfriend and we talked about her, we talked about school, work, friends, my dates, his dates, and it was so nice. I woke up the next morning feeling so good like I had just talked to my old friend. Totally loved it!

Ok, I'm done. Leaving the past in the past....ready go!

Seriously though, I'm a little nervous about the sleep texting thing. Sheesh! At least I cleaned my phone out last week and deleted a bunch of numbers from my phone.

Ps Austin's number has not been in my phone since June or something, I have it memorized, that means I had to type in his whole number before I sent that text! Alright, I'm good now, done trippin.

Happy Weekend!!

Having an Impact on others

2010-01-25T23:19:00.000-08:00

Sunday was a great day! Sacrament meeting was probably the best its ever been in that ward. I sat out of Sunday school because I was chatting and trying to get help for the activity I'm planning for the ward this week. As I was sitting in the cultural hall a girl in jeans carrying a baby in his car seat walked up to the church doors. I looked up and saw that there were two girls, I knew them both but only recognized one of them. They are sisters and both inactive members of the church. I had talked to them a lot, and fellowshiped them during the time I was pregnant. The one without the baby opened the door and said "There's Amber", the other girl (I'm trying not to use names, hope you're following me) walked up to me and gave me a hug. We started talking, I couldn't remember her name and I barely recognized her, but she knew so much about me. She told me a tiny bit of her situation and then went on to say that she should have listened to me and should have taken my advise four years ago. (I honestly have no idea what advise I gave her) Anyway it turned into an awesome experience, she and her sister are in two different and two terrible and scary situations, they came to get a blessing from the Bishop. While they were meeting with our Bishop I got to play with the cutest little baby! So fun.

This is a total side note. My friends with babies always tell me how amazed they are that their kids will go to me because they throw fits and start crying for everyone and anyone else besides them. I never believe them, I always feel like they are just saying that to be nice. BUT...I believe it now. This cute 6 month old baby was crying and these girls were passing him around trying to figure out how to calm him down. That was right when I was walking around the corner, I put my things down and said "give me this baby" (haha, I love it!) and basically just took him from the poor girl who was holding him. He got quite immediately and snuggled up to me! Best feeling ever.

Ok back to my story...The girls come out of the Bishop's office with tears in their eyes, we chatted for just a minute cause I needed to get out of there so I could call a friend that was waiting for my call. Get in my car, call Ben, and drive home. I went to Liz's house for a little bit before ward prayer. Went to ward prayer and had an awesome mini lesson from the Bishop and then prayer. The girls came and I chatted for a long time with one of them. It was so nice to talk to this girl because I knew what she needed to hear and I was able to help. She thanked me for a lot of things and started crying, it was so sweet. The Bishop told me later that she had told him that she knew she needed to be at church and her first sign was when she walked in the door I was the first person she saw.

(I'm sure there is a ton more to this story that I'm leaving out, but I'm a little brain dead at the moment.)

It's sad to hear when other people are struggling and having a really hard time coping with life. I feel so blessed and privileged to have these kinds of experiences. You never know who's life you have an impact on and who's watching and listening to you. Hearing about other peoples struggles is a great reminder to count your blessing.

Heavenly Father is defiantly on my side! Today was a good day. It was a little interesting and there was a little more drama than I would have liked but it ended great! I'm ready to take on any challenges that come my way.

Loving and LIVING MY Life

2010-01-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

I love these short videos. Something really unexpected and hurtful happened to me last night, and it made me think. I stayed up late and thought about a ton of things. I said a prayer and then I read some scriptures, and I felt peace in my heart, and was completely comforted. I love my life and I can't tell you how grateful I am for every day that I am here on this earth. Though at times I wish I had more money or material things that aren't important, I already have everything I need. I love the Gospel with all of my heart. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love Heavenly Father and the relationship I have with Him. The scriptures are amazing! Even though I still have lots to work on to improve myself and be the person Heavenly Father has sent me here to be, every day is another step forward in the right direction. I was texting a friend (ahh...I totally adore him) the other day and I told him he sounded good and asked if he was happy. He said he was happy and then asked me if I was. I thought for a minute and told him I was, and that is so true. I am happy, and I'm happy to be happy! I know who I am, who I am becoming and where I am going. I love that everyday when I wake up its a new day and another opportunity for me to be better, to do something more. On this new day, I am going to re-group, shake off the hurtful words from last night, put a smile on my face, help someone else, and move on. I am sooooooo grateful for every trial, every disappointment, every heartbreak, because I have learned incredible lessons from every single one of those experiences. I love my life! :D

Moving

2010-01-19T16:58:00.000-08:00

I'm moving to La Jolla in less than two weeks! I decided a few weeks ago that I was going to stay in California for a while, for a lot of good reasons. Right after I made that decision, this opportunity for me to move into a house in the cutest little beach town came up. The girls say they open the windows at night and you can hear the waves crashing on the beach. A girl from work lives two doors down, so we could even carpool if we wanted to save gas. It's closer to where I work and really it's closer to a lot of things, it's a great location. All of the girls in the house (there will be a total of 4 of us) are LDS, and I've heard great things about the ward. I'll still be close to my family so I can go home and go to family functions if I wanted to. We have a hammock in the yard! I'll be just a short walk to the beach.

Random Thoughts

2009-12-14T19:05:00.000-08:00

~ I want a job in Utah NOW
~ Brianne is so dang cute and I'm happy we talked
~ Christmas is almost here
~ California is ridiculously CROWDED
~ I'm 25 years old
~ The sun is my friend
~ I hate the family dog
~ Girls are drama, 21 year old girls are even more drama
~ My family drives me crazy
~ I have awesome friends that make me laugh
~ Money is great when you have it
~ It has been over a month since I have been waxed, had a mani, pedi, and massage!
~ Bishop Meacham is awesome
~ If its going to be this cold it might as well snow and look pretty
~ School, Schmool...I'll be back someday
~ Mexican food is great, I think I eat too much of it
~ I loved the 15 min nap in my car today
~ A terrible sickness is about to come over me, so terrible that I won't be able to make it into work one day this week
~ New hairstyle please!
~ Waking up to Owl City playing quietly is so much nicer than waking up to an annoying alarm clock, and taking your time to get out of bed is EVEN Better!

Winter Wonderland

2009-11-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas. Can't wait to take a trip up to Utah and play in the snow.

Claire

2009-11-17T20:22:00.000-08:00

I loved you before you even came into this world. I loved you even more after you were born. I loved you when I placed you into your daddy's arms for the first time. I still love you. Thank you for being you. Beautiful, fun, sassy, spunky, funny, kind, loving Claire. I love you.

long week

2009-10-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

They're becoming an obsession.

This is what happens when you are stuck behind a desk all day and don't want to work. You start feeling like your in 5th grade all over again, thank you 'paint' for making my time go by faster at work this week.

Happy Friday! I'm so happy the weekend is finally here. This has been a LONG week for me. I don't remember anything that happened Monday day. Monday night John and I broke up, Kandis and I went running and I sprained my ankle, and then we watched project runway. I don't think I slept very well at all that night. Tuesday is a blur. Tuesday night I took Weston shopping and out to dinner as a belated birthday celebration, gift thing. I also bought a new purse and 2 pair of shoes, I'm proud to say that I put down the darling $150. pair of kate spade shoes from the clearance rack. Thank you, thank you very much. Wednesday was good. Work was crazy busy. I was able to create and put together 50 slide powerpoint presentation for the vice president in an hour! Managed to fix the computer issue in the conference room minutes before an important meeting (completely different meeting from the one they were using the powerpoint for), and got a ton of other things done too. I had lunch with John. We met at Islands and had a nice chat. I feel so much better since we talked. He is so wonderful and I can't even begin to tell you how much he has blessed me and my life. Wednesday night I was feeling good, back to happy bubbly Amber. I went to walmart to get a couple of things and ended up buying fish stuff, then went over to petsmart and bought TWO fish. I couldn't help it, I fell in love with both. I went back to Walmart and found two pretty glass vases (or something like that) in the craft section. Perfect for my pretty fish. Today, Thursday was not bad. Work was slow, I really didn't want to be there and apparently neither did anyone else. My boss called in "sick" and a lot of people were out of the office for a good part of the morning. I did what needed to get done and then Kia came up to my desk and we played games on her new itouch ipod and we talked for a good 2 hours. While we were talking and she was playing games I was doodling on the paint program on the computer. LONG day, but the good news is that we had gorgeous weather and I got to enjoy it for about 40 minutes.

Alright I'm getting off the computer to have an amazing weekend, starting NOW.

Woohoo for the weekend!

Are you kidding me!?!

2009-10-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

I kind of hate facebook and GUYS right now. TWO minuets after I change my status on facebook to 'single' I start getting text messages and instant messages from random guys. Dumb A** guys just randomly thinking about me, asking DUMB questions and trying to pretend that they have no idea that I'm suddenly single. UGH. These aren't kind of guys that ask how I'm doing because the genuinely care, these are the kind of guys that see an opportunity to get in, thinking I'm down. Sorry boys its NOT working, find someone else, thanks come again.

Let me just say this again...John was a breath of fresh air! *big sigh*

I'm going to have fun with this single business, and I think the guys are going to hate me! I'm a little excited. I'm tired of going out on pointless dates with boys that I don't ever see myself with (John was not one of those guys), so I've decided to have a checklist of questions to ask BEFORE going out with them. Brilliant! OK but I need help with my questions list. (I'm ridiculous, I know) Basically I don't want to date anyone who is not temple worthy and doesn't have a recommend. This is going to be fun. In the mean time I'm going to continue to do what I do and be happy living my life.

What are your suggestions? I need to have something like this in place otherwise when I get asked out and its someone I don't really want to go out with I'll end up going anyway. Oh, and that's another thing why is it that when you say NO to a guy in their head that means yes!? What the heck? I hate how when I'm flat out honest and even rude sometimes its like a turn on and then they don't give up. Anyway, I'm done venting for the night. Help me weed em out.

Angels

2009-10-17T01:07:00.000-07:00

Heavenly Father loves me, here's proof.

A few of the angels in my life.

Red

2009-10-14T23:28:00.001-07:00

Meet, Red. He lives in a bowl on my desk at Syska Hennessy Group, and keeps me company. A few weeks ago I had a random thought to get a fish, not sure where it came from, but I took a 20 minute break and came back with a fish. I named him Red, because he is red.

2009-09-22T00:26:00.000-07:00

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,

To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

One Sunday while I was at Music and the Spoken Word, the Mormon tabernacle choir sang this song and I couldn't stop the tears that were streaming down my face. Life was stressful at the time, mostly because of decisions I had made, and the decision I was faced with at the time. I love this song so much, and when I hear it (especially when I hear the mo-tab choir singing it) it brings peace to my heart and mind. It has just been in my head a lot recently and I find myself singing it at random times during the day.

a breath of fresh air

2009-09-20T22:12:00.000-07:00

This man is a breath of fresh air, he has given me hope that there really are great guys in this world. John is different from anyone I have ever met. Life is simple when we are together. He is kind, considerate, observant, intelligent, motivated and ambitious. He is a great listener. He is understanding. He is patient. I have never ever dated anyone as respectful as he is. I can say or do the most ridiculous thing and I never feel dumb for saying it. He thinks I am beautiful and he compliments me. He is quiet and doesn't need or like being the center of attention, he's happy to give me the attention. He sees me for who I really am. He has good intentions. He has a great sense of humor. He has a testimony of the Gospel. He is humble. He is continually working to be a better person. John is thoughtful. He opens doors. He lets me choose. He lets me listen to county music, even if he hates it. He cares what I think. He is handsome. He is strong in more ways than one.

I'm excited to learn more about him, and I'm grateful that he is giving me the opportunity to do so.

Happy

2009-08-26T20:32:00.000-07:00

So much has happened but I'm not giving you that update tonight. I just want to say that I love my life. Heavenly Father is so amazing and I'm so grateful for all that I have. I am so incredibly blessed. I'm happy. I see the Lord's hand in my life EVERY day, many times a day. I'm constantly learning, growing, and gaining experience. I feel like a different person than from just a few days ago. Time is flying! My life is far from perfect, but I've been learning to laugh a lot more instead of getting frustrated or upset. I'm happy to be happy!

PS the last post was a little dramatic, I'm not a shopaholic. Or maybe if I was I'm not anymore. ;)

"Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do WITHOUT"

2009-06-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

That shall be my motto for this year!

I'm not exactly the best at saving money and I don't even budget well (Ok, sometimes not at all). I spend money the second I get it. Ok, lets be honest I am a shopaholic! I shop when I'm sad, I shop when I'm mad, I shop when I'm happy, I shop before I go out, I shop ALL THE TIME! Its safe to say that this shopping business is the reason I'm living back at home with my parents! I have lists of all the things I want, I think that's normal though...right? By the time my paycheck is spent I already have a new list of the things I'll buy with my next check. It's not just the $300 pair of jeans, the $200 bathing suits, the $150 pair of shoes, and the $250 purses, it's also the many adventures I WANT to have. I want to travel the world! I want, I want, I want! Give me, Give me, Give me!

This is getting out of control. I don't remember always being like this. I spent a lot if not most of my money on other people. So what happened? I can think of a few things, that I won't mention.

Well, Its time to get a grip! I know dang well that I can't bring any of these things into the Celestial Kingdom (or any kingdom at that). I don't think Heavenly Father is really impressed with my darling $600 outfits. We've been warned not to get involved or be apart of worldly things, and I think that this is a perfect example of one of the many worldly things that sucks us in. I'm ready to be more humble and be more prayerful over the things which I spend my money on. Obviously there are the necessities but I will try harder to not go "all out". It is my goal for the rest of this year to be more thrifty, and not so high maintenance. I will humbly pray about how and where I should be spending my money. I will use it all up, wear it out, and make it do! I will be more selfless and less selfish!

I'm on my way to bigger and better things, even if I'm being thrifty! ......wish me luck!...haha....

Magical

2009-06-10T17:18:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm actually posting these pictures, but I told Brianne I would. ;) I was working at Kidville Playtown for a while on the weekends, as a children's party host. I recently quit so that I could have my weekends free this summer. It was a fun and exhausting job though! Every now and then the job required dressing up in character, the kids love that part! Here are a few humiliating pictures for you to enjoy!

Old Woman!

2009-06-10T15:47:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Me! I had a nice birthday, nothing really amazing happened and nothing too terrible happened. I worked all day then came home and had dinner with my family, then did the cake thing. Every year it seems like someone always asks if I feel older and every year my answer is always no. I do feel older this year though, its a little strange. Not only do I feel older but my body apparently knows I'm older, a few days after my 25th birthday I found GREY HAIR!!!!!!!! This is NOT OK, it wasn't just one hair, I found FOUR! Today I found another. This is getting out of control. You better believe I cried before church on Sunday as I was sitting in front of the mirror plucking out my grey hairs! Not only is my hair turning grey but my eyes are getting worse! I made an appointment today with the eye doctor to get my eyes checked and probably a stronger lens in my glasses! What is happening!?! I'm ONLY 25! I probably shouldn't have stole the picture above but I just had too, this is going to be me in a couple of years! Yep, get a good look, here I come!

Memorial Weekend

2009-06-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

This year for memorial weekend the Reed kids went up to LA area to visit with Dad, Conrade, Kaison, Uncle Rex and Aunt Margret and our cousin Krista. As soon as we got to Uncle Rex's we headed to huntington beach. Dad is looking and sounding good, which was nice to see for a change. Kaison is growing so fast and he is so stinkin cute! Pretty sure all of his aunts and uncles spoil him rotten! How can you help it though!?! He's sooooo cute!! Most of my pictures are of Kai.

Bangs

2009-05-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

I cut bangs!! I should have waited till I got a better picture but oh well. So far they are a hit.

Happy Birth Mother's Day to Me

2009-05-09T21:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Birth Mother's Day! After I got Brianne and Trevor's e-mail today to wish me a happy birth Mother's day I started thinking. I am so incredibly blessed to be Claire's birth mother. She is the sweetest little girl and she has blessed my life in ways you wouldn't believe! I am so grateful for Trevor and Brianne, I couldn't have asked for more perfect parents for her. I love them so much and I admire and respect them. They have always been so supportive, considerate, thoughtful, and full of love. I am so grateful that I listened and followed the spirit in my adoption process. What an amazing blessing adoption is, for all those who are involved!

I remember when I made the phone call to Brandon to tell him I was pregnant, the first thing he said was "I knew it!". Then we talked more and after a while he said "well there is always adoption" I responded with "uh, no! I could never just give my baby away!". After some research and serious prayer I knew it was more than that and I knew what needed to happen, not just for me but for my baby.

When I was about 15 I started having dreams of Claire. After the first dream I had of her I always knew that she would be my first child. In my dreams she had blonde hair and blue eyes, we would take walks together and just talk and laugh. I knew that she was in Heaven with Heavenly Father just waiting to come down. The times when I was at my lowest of lows the thought of her would pop into my mind and keep me going. I knew that I had a baby girl waiting for me, and that I had to keep going for her so that she could have a chance to come to this earth and live. She couldn't have come at a more perfect time in my life! Sometimes I wonder if my old ways would have ever changed if she would have never came. She saved my life!

I had the opportunity to be with Claire on her birthday this year. She is 3!! I can't and I can believe that she is 3. I remember when I went into labor with her and the day I gave birth like it was just yesterday. At the same time so much has happened in my life in the past 3 years that sometimes it feels like it was forever ago that I had her. Claire makes me smile, and I love that she is so girly! It's fun for me that she is understanding more of who I am, I think its cute that she can say my name and even gets excited to see me. I love her more than she may ever know. She is blessed to have such an amazing family! I am incredibly blessed to be a part of one special little girls life and more importantly that she is a part of mine.

Dating Disaster

2009-03-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

I'm back into the wonderful world of dating! Instead of writing about all of the dates I've been on and talking about each guy and so forth I really want to share just one date with you for now. Besides going to the fair with Jason and getting incredibly sick together, this was probably the most embarrassing/long/funny date I've had in a while! It all started with a great idea!

Nate knew that I've been wanting to go bike riding for a long time now, so he thought it would be fun to go bike riding on the beach boardwalk on a beautiful afternoon. GREAT IDEA, I was so excited when he asked me to go! Instead of renting bikes, he had borrowed some from a friend of his. They were so cute, the perfect beach cruiser bikes and I even had the option of putting a basket on the front, the only problem was that the bike was WAY too big for me! Oh I'm sorry I'm only 5'1" and have a hard time riding a bike made for a GIANT! First of all can I just tell you that I love mission beach, its so cute and full of young HOT college kids. The bike ride started off really nice we just cruised and talked, but then the boardwalk started getting really crowded. It got to the point were Nate and I had to ride single file. Nate was behind me and another biker was in front of me, to the right of me were bushes and beach houses. Someone behind Nate was ringing their bell at him so he sped up and rode on my left side and to the left of him were a bunch of people. The person in front of me stopped so I had to stop as well. Since I couldn't touch the ground, stopping for me was kind of an ordeal, once I stopped I had to lean one way until my foot could touch the ground. If I leaned to the left I would have fallen on top of Nate so I leaned to the right and FELL in the bushes!!! I got up and laughed at myself, not even realizing that I was hurt. Nate stopped and then made a big ordeal about how I was bleeding everywhere! ...Awkward. The whole thing was pretty funny but I did get pretty scratched up and I think I'm going to have a scar on my leg, but oh well. Leave it to me to fall into bushes on a freakin date! haha....I'm such a klutz.

Perfect Day

2009-01-30T23:19:00.000-08:00

I was in love with every minute of this day! It started with my commute to work, the traffic wasn't bad and I made it to work on time. Today I put a "chunck of change" down to hold my spot in the organization I'm going with to Africa! My boss approved my time off so that I can go to Africa and I feel like its official! Since I was a tiny girl I've wanted to save all the starving children in Africa, its been my dream to serve there since as long as I can remember. I'm finally getting that chance, I was so happy today I seriously almost cried!

The weather was amazing today! On my lunch break I just went for a walk outside, I watched the birds fly by, and listened to the dogs barking and the cars passing. I felt the sunshine on my face! It was a perfect day! Since it was such a gorgeous day I wanted to take advantaged and so I did. I got off work at 2:30 and headed straight to the beach. I called my girlfried Liz and told her to meet me there. I picked up Jamba Juice for the both of us and I sat on a bench and waited for her arrival. When she got there we walked on the beach and explored all the little caves, we climbed rocks and just had fun. We stayed until the sun went down and then on our way back towards the cars we bumped into a kid that we knew from the singles ward. He asked us if we were there with the "group". Anyway, he told us that some kids we knew were setting up rockband (outside on a rocky clif over the ocean!). We headed over there and had the most amazing rockband experience of my life! It was perfect and beautiful. There was a huge crowd of people watching us and strangers were asking if they could play!

After a little rockband on the beach Liz and I went to get some food at Brickhouse Pizza (we didn't even have to leave La Jolla). Dinner was wonderful and completely satisfing! Right after dinner we went hot tubbing with my sisters.

Today was a perfect day!

2008-12-23T18:36:00.000-08:00

Holy smokes I've been busy! (really though, who isn't busy this time of year?) I seriously feel like I haven't even had much time to sleep or eat. Well I can say now that I am finally getting into the Christmas spirit. It's about time!! A few weeks ago my sister Kandis, my friend Liz and I went up to the temple to see the lights and listen to the choir. I love the San Diego temple its so beautiful and defiantly one of my favorite temples! The lights were pretty but it was nothing compared to the Salt Lake temple and honestly I was a little disappointed. We also walked around Candy Cane Lane and looked at the lights. Candy Cane lane is famous in Poway (and all of SD) for its lights. The residents usually have little fires in their drive ways with chairs around the fire, there are hot chocolate stands, and Christmas music playing outdoors. Its pretty much the cutest thing ever!

Christmas is going to be crazy this year, EVERYONE is coming home. There will be 18 of us this year, 16 "kids" and my parents of course. I've decided that its way more fun to be the sibling coming home to visit, instead of the sibling living at home that is being visited! My sweet mother has been working her buns off to get everything ready for everyone arrival. We already have sleeping arrangements, meal plans, and chore charts in place. I'm not totally sure of all the activities and things we have going on, but mostly cause it just confuses me. I know what's going on for the first 4 days after that I'm clueless. Santa is coming tomorrow night of course but we won't be having our Christmas until Sunday, when everyone will be here. In the middle of all this craziness, I'm driving all of us Reed kids up to LA for my cousins wedding on Saturday. This will be fun, I just need to keep a good attitude about it.

Merry Christmas!!!

Winter Wonderland

2008-12-11T22:25:00.000-08:00

The past couple of weeks I've been looking for cheap things to do with the kids that would be fun and help us get into the Christmas spirit. Its so weird to me that its almost Christmas and there are people driving with surfboards on the tops of their cars, we're wearing flip flops, and sunglasses. I remember one year on Christmas morning and it was so HOT! We we're all trying to be cute in our Christmas jammies but had to strip down cause we were sweating! Anyway, I read in the paper a couple of weeks ago that Rancho Bernardo park was hauling in 55 tons of snow! It was a big kid friendly event, Santa was going to be there, they had crafts, but the most exciting thing was REAL SNOW!! Kandis, Evan, Ellen, and I piled into the car and we drove 15 minutes to the snow. Pretty sure it was the saddest "snow" I've ever seen! We played for a little bit but mostly just laughed the whole time!

The Thought that Counts...

2008-11-29T18:25:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago this woman from work (this woman is actually my boss!) called me into her office to tell me that she has a ton of clothes that she needs to get rid of because her closet is overflowing. She thought they'd fit me and wondered if I would be interested in taking them. After she raved about how cute, amazing, and great these clothes were I was excited to get them. She talked to me for probably about 20 minuets about how she's having the hardest time parting from these clothes and especially the suits because they are all just so cute! She doesn't dress bad but we don't exactly have the same taste in clothes, but I figured it wouldn't really matter because a lot of professional attire is classic. Right!? ...WRONG!!

She brought me out to the parking lot the next day to give me the clothes. Each article of clothing was hanging in her backseat and she pulled each one out individually and told its history. "This jacket was my most favorite jacket, its sooo cute and I got it at Macy's for half price. I'm just so sad it doesn't fit anymore and I don't want to just give it to anyone, I thought you could appreciate and take care of it!" I got some kind of story like that for each thing she pulled out of the car.

Now don't get me wrong I am grateful that she was so kind to think of me and want to share with me. But really, what the heck was she thinking!!?!?!? These pictures are of the favorite jacket and pants (I'm pretty sure my grandma has those exact pants) and the super cute very nice suite that was so hard to part from. Kandis enjoyed the lil fashion show I put on for her and loved taking these pics.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-29T17:37:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving was pretty low key this year. Howard's mom was here but other than that it was just immediate family. I slept in a little bit then got dressed and helped Mom in the kitchen. We ate, watched movies, played Christmas music, looked at the ads and just relaxed. I have so many things to be grateful for but the things I am most grateful for would be the church, my crazy family, good health, prayer, and the scriptures. I am blessed.

2008-11-24T20:30:00.000-08:00

It seems like everyone is doing this blog business so I thought I'd give it a try and see what its all about...except I have no idea how to use this site! So this is a test, we'll see what happens.