Stake Conference

What an awesome weekend.

I went to stake conference. I never go to stake conference. My negative Nancy attitude tells me it's okay not to go because the chairs are uncomfortable. The kids are too loud. The speakers talk to much and some are too boring. Well a friend called me to repentance and suggested that I go. I actually really enjoyed it. We showed up 15 minutes early and no one was there! what???? So we got to sit in the comfy seats. Everyone ended up showing up and filling the place but it was weird. In my home stake we would show up 3 hours early just to get a good seat.

One of the speakers said his wife heard someone say that morning that they didn't want to go to stake conference because the talks were too long. The chairs were to uncomfortable and it was just such a long meeting. (I was nodding my head furiously thinking YES I feel the same way). Then he said, " My wife, in all her wisdom, said 'Honey, you're the stake president. Get out of bed, get your suit on, and GO'". HAHAHAHAHAHHA

It was weird being at stake conference and not knowing everyone. not having the familiar feeling about all the speakers and my stake conference. I like knowing everyone and thing about them and their life. Sometimes it makes the talks feel more personal. idk.

One talk that I liked said that

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Diligence is a definition of Gratitude.

Isn't that awesome? I had never thought of it that way before. We must follow the teachings of Christ. We must be willing to accept Heavenly Fathers plan for us. Our diligence, and our obedience, show our gratitude for everything we have been blessed with. It shows our willingness to trust in the arm of God.

I was going to talk more about my weekend but I think I will save that for another day.

February 24th already?

This month is FLYING by. Probably because I have been so busy. Not that I am complaining because everything I have been doing is super fun and it's not drudgery at all.

Last night I was able to attend WICKED. It was my 3rd time seeing it and every time I get so wrapped up in the story and it's like I am seeing it for the first time. This time I kind of was because it was the first time I saw it with GLASSES!

In my opinion it is without a doubt worth the $$ to sit up close. WHY? Because you are able to see the facial expressions of the characters. This adds so much more pain and love to the show.

I snagged a few pics, which is totally frowned upon. They have old ladies jump on you like flea's on a puppy dog if they catch you.

Going to shows always gets me home so late but I guess it's worth it.

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What else has been keeping me up at night?

Working on a Bridal shower for my friend and old roommate Amber Lopez.

I work work work all afternoon and then when my head hits the pillow my mind forgets that it's time to shut off. Sleep evades me, but I do get lots of inspiring ideas.....

Here is one that I remembered I had seen on a blog and remembered it would be perfect. Then my mind went through each crook and cranny of my house trying to find the necessary supplies that I would need. Paintbrush,staple gun, paint, twine,frame, pipe cleaner. Then it started on things i would need to get. Pins, glitter, pictures. SHUT OFF ALREADY AND LET ME GET SOME SLEEP.

:)

Anyway, here it is. pretty cool. I will have to get some more pictures of the other things that I have going on.

Inspiration for my decorating bone.

Church talk for 2012.

Intro: My name is Mern. I come from the awesome land of Eagar. I went to college. I work at UoP. I bought a house here. I work on my house. blah blah blah

Talk about last time I spoke which was in Egypt 2009. Spoke on prayer.

I would like everyone to think back to the last conversation they had with their best friend. What did that look like? Were you so excited to tell your friend about your day, and ramble on and on about your life and problems? Then when you were finished say, welp, see ya later. talk to ya next time! Or did you wait for a response? Some advice on that problem or excitement about your accomplishment.

When we pray for a minute, or two, or five, or fifteen and don't stay on our knees for even a second, we are having a one sided conversation with our Heavenly Father.We give him no time to answer us. Perhaps we might get more of an answer if we continue to kneel for a minute, or two, or five, or fifteen until we get ideas of inspiration, or the warm feeling that can be our answer.

Prayer is a privilege. Not only to speak to our Father in Heaven, but also to receive love and inspiration from him. At the end of our prayers we need to do some intense listening. Then as it reads in Ps 46:10 We can "Be still and know that he is God" As we are "still" after we pray we can know that he is our God and learn of his plan for us.

As Larry King said, "I never learned anything while I was talking." Heavenly father knows us. He already has an idea of what we do everyday and what we are struggling with. So more than anything he wants us to know him. He wants us to know of his plan for us and his love for us.

It can be east to feel like we don't have that relationship with Heavenly Father. We may may be praying. We may even be listening, but we feel we get no communication in return. This may be for a few reasons. Heavenly Father does answer our prayers, but often we aren't prepared to hear him or it could be because some prayers are answered quickly, but others take a long, long, long time (insert funny joke about waiting to be married here!!). We run out of patience. We must keep ourselves worthy to receive the answers to our prayers. It would also be helpful if we could pray for 2 things.

1. Pray for the blessing you want. This can be ANYTHING. Nothing is to small to pray about. If it is important to you, it is important to him.

2. Ask for the blessing of understanding. Then if he feels, for his reasons, the blessing isn't appropriate for that time, the blessing of understanding will come.

What a blessing for each of us to know that our father lives and that he loves us. He will always, always be there to listen. Even if it is a one sided conversation and we don't take the time to listen to his side of things. He will be patient and wait. Everyone must gain that testimony on their own. I would like to challenge you all to do that. To start building, or continue to strengthen communication with Heavenly Father. As we receive answers to prayers we will sense his love for us and learn to rely on him more and more.

Family story of our Foreign exchange student learning to pray.

Through his experience he was able to start building a relationship with his Father in Heaven. He now knows that he is there to speak to and can turn to him in times of need.

Testimony on Prayer and Obedience.

Presidents Day weekend

Monday

Oil change

taxes

groceries

getting ready for bridal shower

painting

Kristens dads help. door handles

spray painting

home depot x2

jetski

Monday was a full day but at the end I felt so accomplished! I love being busy! Once upon a time in my life my wonderful Aunt Dorie let me live with her till I got on my feet in Provo. She was always rushing here and there and doing things and I would say, "Aunt Dorie! You need to learn to relax. chill. be lazy with me." She would just laugh and say, "oh, but there is so much to do!" NOW I UNDERSTAND. Is it that there is so much to do, or that it is the Haws way? We were taught to work hard. Get things done. Don't waste the day away. Work hard at something you love. *Now that was a hard lesson to learn. I think my dad loved to garden. So he would work hard at that, and teach us to work hard at something HE loved.* but now I am able to work hard at things that I love. :)

My roommate Kristen had her parents in town this week. I was really excited to meet them! They are fantastic! They have a lot of the same mannerisms as my Grandma and Grandpa Jensen so it was so comfortable having them in my home. Pops got right to work fixing holes in the wall, pulling weeds, checking out the sinks, installing door handles and hanging mirrors on the wall. He just loved to stay busy. Then when all the work was done he would relax on the couch and do genealogy. We would get a chuckle out of him every now and then. Sweet guy. Her mom is great! She loves to be involved with everything. Asking questions about this boy or that. Wondering how we know so and so or whats going on with our ward. She was so cute and helped me with decorating for the bridal shower I have going on tomorrow. It was fun to have 2 extra roomies for the week. :)

Presidents day weekend

Sunday

Sunday was awesome possum.

I got to participate in sacrament with my awesome roommates. Kristen and I spoke and Emily sang. I am so glad its over. It was nice to prepare but awesome to be done with it.

Walk. best sunday tradition ever. This is something I want to do for the rest of my life. For now with my roommates. Later with my honey...kids... grand-kids... it's just great.

Games. ticket to ride is awesome. don't ever want to play, then have fun. noone blocked me TILL THE VERY END. Dang you Ryan.

Ryan and Sarah are sooo awesome and I am glad they are my friends.I always love having them over to the house. They also came to our ward to support us in speaking/singing. I love having friends that support each other. That's what friendship is. I try to be that friend and I am never 100% at it, but I do try.

I am in a good place in life.

I love that neighbor Levi comes over. It makes me feel like Publish Postthe Tv show friends. I want our house to be a safe zone where people feel comfortable.

Presidents day weekend

Saturday night.

Emily, Jeremy, Chuck and I went to the movies. We saw This means war. It was REAL funny. I don't know if I have ever seen chuck laugh that much.

I wasn't too happy with the ending at first, but then I saw the ending of the ending, and I was happier with it. The movie was real fast paced.

And everyone in the movie was beautiful. Reese is so classic. I heart Tuck with all his tattoos. I know we shouldn't like tattoos... but I do.

Presidents Day weekend.

Saturday....

5k!

I did another 5k. and it was awesome.

My friend Tori invited me along, and then I made Sarah join and rallied Lindsey and Robyn to come to.

It was early in the morning, but so fun.

Whats cooler than running through a zoo and seeing a cheetah running around in it's cage next to you? Pretty darn awesome.

We heard that Tori was going to wear her animal print leggings so we scrounged up a Feather headband, Elephant Earrings, and owl earrings.

And Sarah wore this bad boy... :)

Here is me after the race. I ran the whole time. Now there were a few hills that I had to walk for 10 paces or so before starting to run again, but I am not going to count that. I.ran.the.whole.time.

Sarah has put some more picture in my dropbox so I need to go through those and add some more. I suppose I will just make a new post for those later. Adding photos later is such a pain.

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After the run we got to spend the day in the zoo. It was fun to look at all the animals. The monkeys are always the favorite!

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I think we deserved a little goodness after saving Tigers and running 5k.

So we went to Chino Bandido.

OMGEEEEEEE it was so amazing. If you haven't eaten there you need to rush out right now and go get some.

Why are you still reading this???!@?!!! GOOOO Get some!!!!

See what I mean? It's amazing. This here is the Jade chicken, that's the red stuff. With a Emerald chicken burrito, and pork fried rice and their special black beans with cheese on top. Oh and on the side they have little cartons of a chili sauce or a mole sauce. I want to bathe in mole it is soooo good.

Then for dessert they bring you a snicker doodle. Why a snicker doodle and not a churro or a fortune cookie I have no idea....

House improvements

I have had a few things going on in my home space lately. much much more to do and tell about but her is a bit. I have done a bit here and a bit there in each room but I think I need to start tackling them one at a time and going full force until it's done, before moving on to the next room.

Here is a little that is going on in my room. I have decided on colors. Dark Grey, Light Grey, Yellow, and white. I need to paint my fleur de lis YELLO!

I may need a bigger mirror in this space but it will do for now.

• I got the frame on the left at a garage sell for $2. Stapled some chicken wire to the back and now have a great space for my dangly earrings.
• Mirror is from a yard sale for $3. I just pray painted it white to match the room.
• Fleur de lis for $10
• Desk for $30 off craigslist. It was awful and took lots of sanding, and stripping, and removing dried up old gummy worms (WTH) and painting and more painting.

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Here is some of the kitchen! I will add a before picture later.

My friend THE ZACH was a HUGE help to me! I am so grateful for all his help! One project was to add can lighting to my kitchen. We tore down some paneling and such and removed the long light things and added some modern goodness. I plan on using what we tore down from the ceiling in my bedroom and I am WAY excited to see how it works out.

Jessica (Finch) Calls Wedding

Congratulations to the Calls!!

My adorable roommate got married about a month ago! Her wedding was beautiful, and so was she! well, actually I would say she was STUNNING.

I wish I had got a better picture.

Her reception was SO FUN. Probably the funnest one I have been to. It was in a pretty venue. Sarah, Kristen, Ellen, and Jakeb were there. Also in attendance was my sister Lindsey and her friend from HS Lenae. I bounce back and forth from table to table all night buuuut my favorite was S.K.E.J.because they got out on the dance floor and danced. When the dancing started the dance floor was pretty bare. Jessica's mom got out there and boogied with a little girl. Then the second song came on....and we got Beiber fever BAD. haha So us girls jumped up and started dancing in front of the sweethearts table. That got Jessica up dancing with us and it was so.much.fun.

Jakeb, Mern.

I wish I would have gotten pictures with everyone else. I am terrible at taking pictures lately. :( But thankful for the ones that I did get.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I love this day!

If you call it single awareness day I might have to punch you in the face...Tomorrow...Cause I love you too much to punch you in the face on Valentine's Day!

My friends and I used to have a tradition to decorate Valentine's Day cookies but that hasn't happened in a bit, so I settled for buying the AMAZING ones at Walmart and bringing them in for my friends at work.

How Do I celebrate Valentine's Day?

I bought my self a couple new DVD's. Happy Valentine's Day to me.

I ate a good Breakfast. Happy Valentine's Day to me.

I wore my Sexiest undies. Happy Valentine's Day to me.

I bought some friends some Valentines. Happy Valentine's Day to me.

I am going to go to a movie with the girls. Happy Valentine's Day to me.

I will splurge on dinner and not count my points. Happy Valentine's Day to me.

I am going to go to running club. Happy Valentine's Day to me.

I appreciate this holiday where I get to spoil myself, and do only things that make me happy. It may sound selfish, but I just appreciate that I can do these things for myself. Because I know one day, I won't have to. I will have someone special to spoil. Then that day won't be all about me... unless he is the BESTEST EVER and then it still will be :).

Painting

I was able to do a lot of "home things" this weekend. I love doing that crap.

Friday night Chuck came over and helped me paint my front room. GREEN. It.looks.awesome. I can't wait to throw fun things on the wall to pop out from the green. I was going to paint the other walls an off white but he persuaded me to go with a white instead and I do like the way it looks. I guess that boy has taste.

Saturday I did some goodwill hunting with my friend Hunter. We went to 2 different stores and found some nice stuff. He looks for the unicorns and clowns while I am looking for pieces to revamp and add to my home collection. Oh and we got in a fight with an old lady, but that's a story for a different day when it's easier to laugh about.

Saturday night was reunion night. I went out to the Bryant's and had dinner with them and The Bloomer's. It was fun to catch up! I couldn't believe the Bryants have been married 4 years and already have 2 kids! ay yi yi! time sure does fly by. I am grateful for the friendships that were made in MCC ward! I hope they last a life time.

Weight Watchers

I started weight watchers (WW) this week. I am loving it so far! It has been fun, and manageable. Most people are familiar but if you aren't I will tell you how it works.

It's based upon a point system. The Carbs, fat, fiber, and protein are evaluated and then the food is given a point value. I am given an amount of points that I can eat each day. After that I can eat whatever I want, as long as I stay within my allowed points. Now if I go over there are weekly points for splurges and then extra points can bee accrued by working out.

My roommate Kristen started doing it off and on. Then our friend Sarah jumped on the bandwagon. She was having such success with it that I couldn't help but join in. It has been wonderful having her as a teammate! She let me borrow her hungry girl (HG) cookbook that has AMAZING recipes that have made this all so enjoyable.

Well Sarah and I both love pasta. who doesn't, right? Well in the HG cook book there are some pasta recipes that don't use pasta.....

You know me.. I am always up for a good adventure.

And what an adventure these were!

This is a tofu noodle that is a substitute for... noodles...duh.

We quickly found out that they aren't found at the typical grocery store. We tracked them down at a Oriental food market/restaruant/strip mall type thing. Have you ever been to one of those places?????? THEY SMELL TERRIBLE! gross gross gross. BUT we did find what we needed and each picked up a couple bags. We stocked up so that if we happened to like them we wouldn't have to come back for quite some time.

The only caution we could find about these things is to be sure and rinse them EXTRA well. They come packaged in a liquid and the liquid smells AWFUL. about the same as the smell of the market we bought them in. so rinse, rinse, rinse, and then rinse some more. :)

Don't let that deter you because they are delicious. And with the points you save you can eat some garlic break with your alfredo!

We made Fettuccine Hungry Girlfredo Veggie Explosion! Which was AMAZING! It was so tasty and so much food! We ended up splitting it because we weren't that hungry. I give it 4 thumbs up!

PER SERVING (entire recipe): 151 calories, 4.5g fat, 407mg sodium, 20g carbs, 7g fiber, 7g sugars, 9g protein -- PointsPlus®value 4*

Ingredients:
1 package House Foods Tofu Shirataki Fettuccine Shaped Noodle Substitute
1/2 cup small broccoli florets
1/2 cup red pepper chunks
1/2 cup large zucchini chunks
1 wedge The Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese
1 tbsp. fat-free sour cream
2 tsp. reduced-fat grated parmesan-style topping
salt and pepper, to taste
Optional: garlic powder, chili powder

Directions:
Place all the veggies in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl with 2 tbsp. of water. Cover bowl and microwave for 2 - 3 minutes (until veggies are fully steamed and tender). Drain water and set aside.

Drain and rinse noodles well. Dry noodles thoroughly (use paper towels to soak up as much moisture as possible), and then use a knife or kitchen shears to slice them up a bit. Next, place noodles in a microwave-safe bowl, and top them with the cheese wedge, sour cream, and parm topping. Then microwave for one minute.

Stir well, and then microwave for one additional minute. Mix in the veggies, and season well with salt and pepper. If you like, add some garlic powder and/or chili powder. Enjoy!!

MAKES 1 SERVING

Thanks Sarah for the awesome adventure!! :)

Blind date

hmmmm where did I last leave off?

BLIND DATE! It was so much fun! My date was adorable. And a nice guy! I wasn't bugged by him at all. Which is a huge thing because I am one of those people that you might call "picky." I wouldn't call myself picky but I know a girl who can meet 5 guys she is interested in in 1 day. Sooooooo ya, I am a little picky.

The day was a little stressful because I had to work and then rush home to make the tinfoil dinners and get ready. Everyone showed up and we headed out to sycamore creek. We found our spot and set up base camp. Tinfoil dinners turned out AMAZING. We had all been sitting around the fire and I was sitting by my date. We went to get our food and when I came back someone had taken my seat! boo. So I sat on the other side of the fire where my friends date gave up his seat so I could get down. My date wasn't rude in not offering his, he just didn't notice what had happened. So I was sitting there eating my dinner and looking around the fire and EVERYONE was sitting by their date. CRAP! awkward! Do I move my chair to go sit by him? Everyone would notice. Would that be weird? Is it fine that I just sit here? Yep, I chose to not do anything awkward and just sit there. You know what that boy does? he picks up his chair and comes and sits by me when he notices what happened. Then he apologized for being rude and not sticking by me.

OKAY how adorable is that? He was honestly a nice guy. Did I mention cute? and drove a truck? and served his mission in the tiny town that my mom grew up in? and going to school and working at the same time? and 22 eeeeeeerchhhhhh... ya, he is a baby. but not a deal breaker...Seeee I am not tooooo picky. lol

He likes random adventures, So do I!

He likes hippity hop and country music, So do I!

He comes from a huge family, Soooo do I!

I could go on but you get the picture..... I am excited because it's fun to have a crush again.

I wish I would have taken a picture.

But it gets bad..

I saw him in church the next day. TWICE. and said hi ZERO times. ahhhh I froze! But for the record I was with my mom and didn't want to be like... you know how we went on one date? Well I wanted to introduce you to my mother. AND he was talking to some of his buddies and I didn't want to interrupt. Valid or not those are my excuses. I will do better this sunday.

We were in the same sunday school and our eyes met a few times but we both did the quick look away like "crap I just got caught looking at him/her" haha

OHHHH one last thing. As he was dropping me back off at my house he mentioned that one of his chairs got put into my truck. I told him I would go get it for him. He just smiled and said "thats okay, I can get it from you later"

Is that the whole leave the purse to get a 2nd date routine?

I hope so.

future bedroom

I have these plans for my bedroom....

I want it to be a mixture of the following 3 pictures....

I can't wait till it all comes together. I think what scares me the most is choosing and hanging curtains....

Why does that task scare me to death???

Pass go and collect $200!

Yesterday was plane awesome. I felt like I was playing hooky, except I had the day off because I have to work today, Saturday.

The day started off with SLEEPING IN. Waking up WITHOUT an alarm clock. That can be one of my favorite things ever...

Then I hoped in the car with this girl...

Emily Noxon, My roommate.

We headed to Tempe to visit IKEA. One of the greatest stores EVER. We strolled around and bought a few things for the house.

Like this awesome mirror.

She was looking for a shoe tree but didn't find it. I have never heard of a shoe tree before. Weird.

I got some storage stuff and all this other stuff that I can't remember right now. OH A LAMP!

I got a cool grey lamp for my bedroom. I know I got a couple cute stuffed things for the niece and nephews. Maybe a rat and moose.

After Ikea we were hungry from so much shopping so I indroduced her to

:) :) :) HAJI BABAS :) :) :)

We ate things like Chicken Schwarmas. Gyros. hummus. Babaganoosh. Tabooli.

It was Emily's first time eating middle eastern food and I was SO EXCITED. I love taking people here because it's so authentic. They also sell spices. In a store you would pay about $15 for what you will get here for $1.17. It's AMAZING. GET YOUR SPICES HERE. They have all spice, curry, cardamom, poppy seeds, ginger, cinnamon, tamaric, clove... need I go on??

After we were Stuffed full we went to about 5 different....

GOODWILLS!! We were trying to find a shoe tree and all we found was a set of bookends that i liked at IKEA but didn't buy for 7 bucks cheaper than they would have been new! sweet!

Then we met up with this guy

CHUCK @

HARKINS to watch

and it was a pretty good movie! except chuck told me what he thought the ending would be. and it turned out he was right. soooo he spoiled the ending. sheesh. how do some people know the ending? I enjoy not knowing what is going to happen. It makes it so I can become wrapped up in the story and enjoy the drama and suspense.

So then at the end of the adventure we went to one last thrift store.....

Epic thrift store. Where we found something SO EPIC you won't even believe it.

A plaster mold of a...... BOOB. OMG, thats right. You better believe that I bought it.

Then we headed home to put together our Ikea finds and chat with Sarah and Kristen. It was an EPIC day and I had a lot of fun.

Tonight is a blind date. GU HULLLLL. Lets see how that goes.

Happy Birthday SARAH!

Who likes to partay for Sarahs birthday?

THIS girl does...

Is Kristen wishing Sarah a very excited happy birthday? Maybe so.

It's not a party without IKO IKO on Just dance 2.

Ryan, Jessica, Lindsey

Emily and Matt jammin together

Tori making friends with new boy Jed.

Brian, Birthday Girl Sarah, and me.

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Before the party we all went out to dinner at Lucilles BBQ

Sarah modeling the hat I got her.

Ryan and I

Crystal, Heather and her fiance Scott, Mik

Ryan , Chase, Tyson, Sarah

Tyson, Brian, Sara

Do work! haha I needed some ribs.

and for the record, I make em better.

Sarah and Dave.

Sarah and Tori

Sarah was pretty set on being on the roof at the time she was born. we were a few minutes late but we still made it happen.

We were joined by many.

Tori's face here KILLS me. haha

Everyone chillin on the roof. These peeps are a lot of fun and I am glad we get to be friends.

Happy birthday to Sarah! Cheers, Till next year. :)