Good Investments

So I got a job out in Oklahoma (Or the "Land of the Red Man" as Wikipedia calls it)! Nothing too fancy, just a sales associate at Forever 21. It's decently fun and I make a little over minimum wage, but the employee discount is lame and sometimes I have to stay super late. The biggest problem I had at first was just knowing what time it was. You have to take your breaks in time or you can get in big trouble. But i couldn't very well pull out my phone every 30 minutes while customers are walking around, that would be totally unprofessional. So I figured it was time to get a watch. Now I know what you're thinking, "Shelly, only grown ups wear watches!" Well, sadly, I am growing up, there's nothing I can do to prevent it so I might as well wear a watch. But don't fret too much! When I went to the watch store at the mall, none of the "adult" watches would fit me! so I had to get a kids one:) I knew there was still some kid in me. So here it is for your viewing pleasure:

I know, super cute. Since my purchase, this little guy has proved to be a very good investment. Who knew it could be so handy to have the time right on your wrist?

After thinking about it, I realized I've made several good investments in the past little while. One of those is investing my time in my sister Jasmine and her family. In the few weeks I've been here I've already learned so much about how to deal with kids. Jasmine and Taylor are very good at it. Jasmine's chore chart got the kids almost excited about chores! (They get to turn over fun little cards and get tickets for activities when they're done) My kids will definitely have something like this!

Since I'm far away from home, I've also had to invest some of my time at a real job, one that doesn't involve working for my dad. From this I've learned to be flexible and to have a good attitude even when you have to do the same thing for extended periods of time. I don't like to be around the people at work who are obviously not so happy to be there. I definitely don't want to be like them!

But most of all I'm just glad that I invested my summer in coming out to Oklahoma so that I can finally have a real relationship with my oldest sister. I haven't been able to spend much time with her in the past, so I'm very grateful that she has been generous enough to let me stay in her home for over 3 months! I don't even know if I would take me in for 3 months...

So, all in all, I think it's safe to say that I have recently made some very wise investments. Maybe growing up and being wise (though I still have LOTS of wisdom left to gain) is not so bad after all.

Adventures of the Midwest!

The job search begins! In order to spend the summer with my sister and her beautiful family in Jenks, OK this summer, I have to get a job. The day we got here Jasmine took me around to get applications from many places that I could work. So, I spent the weekend filling them out and had to take them back today. Most of the restaurants wanted applications turned in between 2-4 so I could talk to a manager for a bit. Unfortunately, this was right during Mikayla's nap-time so Jasmine was unavailable to come with me. So I mapquested the route and set off to navigate the supposedly simple streets of Jenks. I got to my first two destinations with only a few minor mishaps and was feeling pretty good about the trip. My last trip was a fairly simple freeway drive from Target to Walmart. At home I have always been discouraged from driving on the freeway so I don't really know much about them (like last week when Lauren and I went to Spanish Fork and got off an exit early because we didn't even realize we were in the exit lane...) So go to Oklahoma and throw the toll roads in there and it just makes things an even bigger mess.
So I'm driving along and I see a sign saying something about a toll road. Well I knew that there wasn't a toll between me and my destination so I figured the next exit was the one for me (the vague mapquest directions didn't help much either). So I, with my lack of freeway knowledge, took the next exit assuming that it would lead me to some neighborhood streets. I never knew about freeway exits that lead to another freeway!!! Turns out, the toll road sign wan't for further down the road, it was for the exit to Oklahoma City. So now I'm going down this road in the absolute wrong direction, digging through my change to make sure that I had enough. I exited at the first possible place and paid the 35 cents to get off. Then I whipped right around and paid another 35 cents to go back the other way. Once I got back to freeway I had previously been traveling on, I turned to rejoin the Jenks traffic. Police cars always scare me so of course I am right next to one when it comes time to merge and I am not able to merge in time. I find myself on a loopy ramp that leads... can you guess? back to the toll road! So once again I'm driving down this road, praying I have enough change in the car to pay the toll AGAIN.
I managed to scrounge up the 70 cents needed and headed back to the first freeway, this time ready for the merge! So I made my way to the next exit and eventually found my way back to Jasime's house! In tears of course. And that is the story of my first Oklahoma adventure. Ya. I can tell this is gonna be a breeze.

Sometimes the hurt goes away if you just keep running, other times it doesn't until you stop

Nearly every day I run from my dorm to the UPS store on university avenue to send a letter to the MTC. Every time I start running I get an ache in my side. If I keep running it usually goes away. Today however, it just seemed to get worse. No matter how fast I ran, the pain just ate up my side. When I finally stopped running to hand over my letter to the UPS man, the pain instantly disappeared! I decided that this could make a great analogy for life. Sometimes bad things happen, and its ok to try to just push through it as fast as you can until it's over. But sometimes aches are long-term, and you can't just run and run and run. You just have to stop, and find some way to make it go away. Stop and realize you still get to live every day on this beautiful earth! Stop for a second and think about all the people that love and care about you. Stop. And be happy with the life you have right now. For "Thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes." D&C 121:7-8

Valentines Day

I love Valentines Day! I don't think it's overrated to have a day dedicated to love! Sometimes people forget to celebrate love, and they just need a little reminder! Here are some quotes about love that I enjoy:

“If you love somebody, let them go. If they return, they were always yours. If they don’t, they never were.”

"To love someone deeply gives you strength. Being loved by someone deeply gives you courage"

“Find a guy who calls you beautiful instead of hot, who calls you back when you hang up on him, who will lie under the stars and listen to your heartbeat, or will stay awake just to watch you sleep… wait for the boy who kisses your forehead, who wants to show you off to the world when you are in sweats, who holds your hand in front of his friends, who thinks you’re just as pretty without makeup on. One who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares and how lucky he is to have you… The one who turns to his friends and says, ‘that’s her.’”

And of course, Albus Dumbledore's thoughts on love:

"love... leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign ... to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever."

The Battle With the Heart Isn't Easily Won.

My thoughts after midnight...

another day.

another long day.

sometimes it's hard to know how i get by.

but I do.

and for that, i am grateful.

nobody can tell me how to live.

they can try, but in the end the only person i have to please is me.

i CAN do hard things.

but why do they have to be so hard?

you can't always get what you want...

but what if i want it so bad?

There are no tricks or shortcuts.

Just me, my faith, and the long road ahead

Jimmer University?

This year I have heard a lot about a man named Jimmer Fredette. Is he a super hero? Immortal? A gift from the Gods? Many might answer yes to all of the above. In fact, I think some might be in favor of changing this school's name to Jimmer University. I, for one, did not understand this obsession with a basketball player. I never really got why people idolize athletes to such extreme extents.

So, I went to the game against San Diego State with my dad to see what all the fuss was about. At first I still didn't understand. I mean, the intro to the game made it seem like this was the most noble calling any man could be called to fulfill, and the crowd was PACKED with fans who looked like they would go into shock if they didn't see Jimmer soon.

Then the game started, and BYU was behind. I felt myself getting nervous. Wasn't Jimmer supposed to be the greatest thing that ever lived? How can we be losing? But, never fear my dear readers. Jimmer didn't disappoint. He scored basket after basket, pounding them in like nobody's business.

The game was so intense, and the refs (like always) were so dumb! My heart was racing and I found myself on my feet screaming my lungs out. I never knew I had it in me. BYU pulled ahead (with the help of Jimmer's 43 points), and I could finally rest when it became clear that we would win.

And so, as the clock ran out, and Jimmer continued to score, I finally understood why so many people can get so into sports. Thank you Jimmer, for helping me understand.

Ich bin neunzehn Jahre alt!

It's my birthday and I am nineteen years old! o how I have grown.

Mom asked me what i wanted for my birthday, and I had really no idea. So the girls in my hall who play the ukulele inspired me to ask for one. So, we went to the mall and bought this little beauty and I named her Layla :)

She also got me the pop-up book of the century! Just look at this baby! This is no child's pop up book. I love it so much. The pages include Diagon Alley, Hogwarts (as you can see here) Hagrid's Hut/Forbidden Forrest, Harry retrieving the egg from the Hungarian Horntail, and Harry and Voldemort in the Graveyard in Great Hangleton!

Jacob got me my very own Bean Game, the most amazing photo book full of pictures of us, and an entire cheesecake! He also went to the fabric store with me and took me to dinner at Cafe Rio! He is too good to me.

Harly and Lauren took me to Zupas for lunch, my cousin Ryan and his friends made me brownies, and my parents are taking me to dinner this weekend! Birthdays are so very wonderful!