I'm a Mormon... a Utah Mormon!!!

Its official! I live in Utah. I've been here over a week now and guess what... I LOVE IT!!! I used to make fun of people from Utah, and now I am one! (Sorry for those people reading this from Utah!) Its been one of the best weeks! I still don't know a ton of people in Salt Lake, so I'm learning to be independent! I did something really fun the other night. I went to see a movie by myself! I loved it too! Its something I've wanted to do since I was on my mission. (Something about not being able to go to movies and never being alone made me really want to go to a movie by myself!) I love being independent! When I feel like going to the temple, I just go! When I want to get food, I get it! When I want to watch a movie, I watch one! Its so fun! Plus on top of all the fun things I do on my free time, I really do love my job! Its been a great week at work. I have a feeling I'm going to be very happy working here. There is such a ladder of opportunity with Sutter Health, and I am excited to see where my life with them goes! My work is so fun I actually wake up excited to go. I haven't felt that way since the mission. Waking up excited is probably the greatest happiness there is in life!

Speaking of my mission... I miss it a ton! Today I went to the temple and I could not stop thinking about Indiana. It occupied every single thought I had! So when I was done, I decided to make today a craft day. I went to Michaels and bought some craft stuff and came home and worked on it all day! I made a sweet shadow-box to remember all my favorite Indiana things. Inside it I put a picture of me, my shoe that I wore out, my ministerial certificate, my tag, a Perdue sticker, two fortunes from cookies that predicted the rest of my mission, a laser that a little boy gave me, a Christmas ornament that a member made for me, a squished penny from the Indy zoo, a piece of taffy (Sister Pitcher's!) and of course an Indiana flag!!! I am so proud of it!

Other things I have done since moving: Busted out my flip flops!!! I am no longer a student at BYU-Idaho or a missionary! Therefore, I'm wearing flip flops again!!!

I put together this media shelf for all my movies!  Notice the 4th shelf down... CATCHING FIRE ROCKS!!!

I've been down to Provo twice! Last weekend I went to the BYU Volleyball game, and last night I went to Provo Beach which is this super sweet place with a rope course, bowling alley, and arcade games! It was so fun! (Sadly no picture from last night though!)

I love being in Utah. I love my job! I miss the mission, but I know that this is where God needs me to be at this time in my life, so I'm going to let it all "Come What May, and LOVE IT!"

Blonde Moment of the Day

I was shadowing the other Quality Coordinator all day. I was going to meetings with her, following her around to talk to individuals, and sitting by her desk and basically reading over her shoulder all her emails and what she was doing. (No, not in a creepy way!) She got an email from an employee who was volunteering his services as a Disk Jockey for our company BBQ this summer. So kind of quietly under my breath I say, "Disk Jockey?" I question it a little because its kind of a weird word and then I ask her if a Disk Jockey is the same thing as a DJ! Needless to say the office laughed at me for a good while on that one.

Do I need to color my hair again... I think my blonde is coming out!

Sicko

So many of you will remember that one time I got sick in Calculus and threw up in front of my whole class. Some may recall the time I threw up in the Taylor Quad at BYUI. And who can forget about the story of when I threw up in an investigators house during our first lesson.  Yes, obviously I have a problem! But I am learning!

Today was my first day of work at my new post-college job. Kinda a big deal. I get to work and get my name tag and a parking pass and I'm feeling pretty grown up. During our ten o clock meeting I start to feel kinda sick. Then my boss takes me to lunch and by then I'm feeling horrible. I hates to do this but I told her I wasn't feeling good and she said I could come home. Good thing too, because within minutes of being home I am throwing up! (But this time it was in private so that was a plus!) Seriously I just can't believe the timing of this! Why did I have to get sick to my stomach on my first day of work! I was so mad but what can you do! I laid in bed almost all day and I'm praying that I will feel better in the morning. So in case any of you were wondering how my first day went, it went pretty much like that! I should really just count my blessing that I didn't vomit in front of the president of the company or anything! 

Picture of my new badge next to my best friends badge! We are both just so cool!!!

My Favorite Name

Of all the names I have ever been called... my favorite one is Aunt Tara!

Fishy Face with Abby

Jules might just be the happiest baby ever!

My little tomboy Avery! Do you want to know why she likes spiderman! Because he shoots webs from his hands!

Anika, the Park City Princess! She is such a character!

One of the few times I caught Brinley being happy!!!

This little one always has her tongue out! I love Skylar so much!

 When I saw the older girls for the first time they ran to me and said, "Oh Aunt Tara! We haven't seen you in so long!" A year and a half was way too long to be away from these beautiful girls! The first thing Brinley said to me was, "You're pretty!" I always knew I liked that one! And the other girls didn't have to say anything, I could tell that they were just happy to see me! I have loved this past week and the opportunity I had to see all of my little nieces! #myniecesarecuterthanyournieces!

Taylor Swift Songs

I have always been a firm believer that no matter what stage of life you may be in, there is a Taylor Swift song that describes your life perfectly at that moment. I can literally take you through every song of hers and tell you when that was a song that applied to me in high school or college. I remember driving in the car with Staci singing Picture to Burn (with a few words changed to fit exactly what we wanted to say) and having it just fit exactly how we felt about a certain person. Who doesn't relate to "Teardrops on my Guitar". There was even a semester where I was taking guitar class and I was friendzoned by the boy that I was madly in love with... Taylor described it so perfectly!!! I remember listening to "You Belong with Me" on repeat for about a whole semester thinking about a certain boy I worked with. There was even a boy in my math class once named Stephen, and yes, he did look like an angel... I mean, could it be even more perfect! Hey Stephen! I could go off on an entire blog post about how "The Story of Us" was my life story. And then of course that story ends, and goes along perfectly with the song "Better than Revenge". (I didn't do anything to get revenge... but I sure did like to listen to that song and think about it!) Stupid college boy anyway. Some of them were harder to get over than others! haha. After any type of social gathering where a cute boy talked to me, I would come home and play Enchanted for a few days until I got over that random stranger! haha. And then of course when I bought my car, I always liked to sing to her about how she is the "best thing thats ever been mine!" (Obviously that song didn't fit as well as the other ones did but I made it work!)

And even when there wasn't a boy drama going on in my life (which wasn't too often if you knew me!) I would visit my sister and spend time with my nieces and then the song "Never Grow Up" would be my theme song! Or when the Hunger Games came out and I was just obsessed with that movie and everything associated with it. Safe and Sound and Eyes Open! Oh man they were so good!!! I'm serious... There is ALWAYS a T-Swift song for whatever you are going through.

Last night I caught up with my best friend Staci after a long time of not being together. It was so fun to hear about what has happened in her life for the last 2 years. Staci being one of the girls I would sing Taylor Swift to in my car growing up decided to tell me about her life as she played songs that represented each part. So she and I listened to the newest Taylor CD as she told me about how each song fit her life the last little bit. And wouldn't you know it, they were all just so perfect!

So here I am, fresh off the mission. There hasn't been TOO much boy drama lately, I don't really know if Taylor has a song for awkward RMs... and I'm wondering what song will fit my life right now. Well remember that time on the mission when I had a birthday and everyone was sending me birthday cards that said, "I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22!" Guess what... I finally understood why they all said that! Taylor Swift has a song about being 22! Wow... could she be more inspired! She is just simply amazing!

I would highly recommend if you need a song to describe how you feel, and if you are a girl from the age 15 to 22, you should look in Taylor's CDs. Almost guarentee that you will find one! haha