My Mission Call!!!

I CANNOT even start to explain how excited I am. I never would have thought of the Philippines but when I opened my call and read it, I felt like it was perfect! It was like, "oh yeah, the Philippines...THAT'S where I'm supposed to go." I feel really good about it and I'm so excited!

Kacey's Super Extravagant Birthday Present

Every year for birthday presents, Kacey and I go all out for each other. Last year I took her to the Glen Ivy Day Spa in Corona and she took me over the bridge for a night at the Hotel Del Coronado with room service breakfast and everything! So...this year for Kacey's birthday her present from me was.... a lamp shade. I'm poor. So I bought a lamp shade at target and decorated it with felt flowers. I think it will fit perfectly in her new house. But, it's up to her if she wants to put it there.


Happy Birthday Kace Face. And you're welcome. ;)

Still Keeping Busy

Molly (my 10 year old that I nanny) and her best friend Taylor are in love with Miles. They are obsessed with him. So on Thursday, when we were hanging out, we all wrote him a letter. They got a little out of control and started writing things like, "Call me," "air kisses," "ur hot!," etc. But we had so much fun writing letters to our missionary.

Long Beach State was in the Big West Tournament on Friday. I went with my friends Tegyn and Darren(above) and we met up with Miles' friends Mike and Jay. It was such an exciting game even though we lost.


After the game... Tegyn, Darren, and I went over to our friend, Crystal's house to hang out. Another friend, Andrew was also there and the five of us decided to head over to the dance. We were going to take my car so Andrew got in, but then we realized it was too small so we closed the doors. However, Andrew was still in the car. Stuck in the back. And we thought that was really funny. So we took a picture. We had such a fun night. My abs are still sore from how hard we laughed that night.

On Saturday I had the opportunity to see one of my very favorite friends who I have not seen for a couple MONTHS! Juice Box (that's his camp nickname and the only name I know him by) and I had a fun day full of spending too much money on clothes, taking really weird pictures, eating chocolate pudding that his Australian roommate made for us, and laughing really hard.


Later on Saturday I took Mike, Miles' good friend, out for his BIRTHDAY! We went to In N Out and then saw Coraline! Mike's such a fun, sweet guy. I hope he had a great birthday!

For F.H.E. on Monday night the El Dorado Ward had it's annual Mr. El Dorado! This year was so funny! The infamous Wade Price won the crown. I'd have to say he deserved it after coming out in a unitard and leg warmers. I had so much fun watching the show with these fun girls.

The other day I cleaned out my closet and on Tuesday I gave a bunch of my old clothes to Molly. It was St. Patrick's Day so she immediately picked out this cute green sweater and put it on. It was adorable on her! I love Molly and I'm going to miss her so much when I leave on my mission. Today (Wednesday), I got another letter from Elder Williams! He included his memory card from his camera in the envelope so I could put it in my camera and upload his pictures to my computer! Here are a couple...This is his best friend in his district, Elder Crawley. Aren't they handsome!? They have fun making faces at each other when the other Elders say weird things. Ever since my sisters blog about the types of embarrassment, when we are embarassed for someone, we say "type 2." So Miles told Elder Crawley about this and now they call their district "Type 2" which is why they're holding up two fingers.


All of the other Elders make bets on how many letters he'll get every day because he gets the most out of everyone. They also make fun of my decorative envelopes. But he loves them and that's all that matters.

I'm so grateful for all my friends who hang out with me, all the people who give me words of encouragement, and the Savior for providing me with a feeling of peace and comfort. I'm still doing great and patiently waiting for my mission call!

One Week Down...

...only 103 weeks to go! Today it has been one week since Miles entered the MTC. His letters are awesome! He's doing great and gets along just fine with his companion, Elder Ririe. I'm doing fine as well. I'm just keeping busy and staying positive. I write him a lot of letters because it makes me feel like I'm talking to him, which makes me feel a lot better. Then I decorate the envelopes..

This weekend was so much fun! Saturday I put on a bridal shower for my good friend, Allie Landreth (post coming soon). It was so much fun. Afterward, Kacey and I went to Kacey's new house to try some paint colors and what not. Then we went to J.J.'s brother's house to hang out with JJ and his nephew, Greg in the sweet cave-like jacuzzi. Kacey dared me $10.00 to jump from the top of the cave into the cold pool. I did it [after 5 minutes of mentally preparing myself]. I'm $10.00 richer. After we got out, we played this super fun game called "Curses."

When we were done there, we went to Kacey's house and I was too tired to drive home so I just decided to spend the night. I used to practically live there, but I haven't spent the night there in FOREVER. It was so much fun. Kristi's friends were spending the night too and they were all being so loud. So we had a plan. I got out of bed and started walking around the dark house, Kacey went into the girls' room and said, "girls, come look, Sandy's sleep walking." So they all come out to the living room where I was and watch me. Then they follow me into the kitchen and I start touching things and rip off a piece of paper towel. I start tearing the paper towel into pieces and dropping them on the floor. I heard the girls laugh so I started laughing too. But we definitely had them going for a little. It was fun.

The next day I went to El Dorado Ward with Kacey. It was fun to see all my friends there and it was such a great meeting. Later that evening I had a meeting with my stake president and now my papers are officially in! I'll receive my call in 2-3 weeks! So there's my fun weekend!

The "Goodbye"

Yes, he is gone. But I'm hanging in there. It helps to focus on other things or to remember good times we've had rather than the fact that I won't see his face or hear his voice for two years. So this post is mostly just going to be about the fun stuff we did the week before he left!

Long Beach State Basketball game. Look at all that school spirit I have for his school.

Color Me Mine. Every morning we eat cereal together for breakfast, so we thought it would be a good idea to paint bowls for each other. Some of you may be thinking, what a waste...he won't be able to eat out of it because he's leaving. But that bowl will still be here in 2 short years and most likely he will still enjoy a delicious bowl of cereal then also ...alright?

Long Beach State Dirtbags Baseball Game. It was his last dirtbags game before he left and it was certainly a fun one because we met up with his dad and our friends, Mike and Jay. The game lasted 4 1/2 hours (way too long) and we ended up loosing but Mike got a foul ball and gave it to Miles!

Utah. My family drove up on Thursday and Miles and I flew up on Saturday. They picked us up from the airport and we all went to Salt Lake to hang out for the day. We went shopping at the Gateway mall and walked around Temple Square.

The Roof. Best buffet ever. It's on the top floor of the Joseph Smith Building in Temple Square. It was delicious and so much fun.

Church. We all went to church at his mom's ward where Miles was able to bear his testimony. It was such a sweet testimony and he had us all in tears (all=his mom, my mom, me). His mom and step-dad also got up to bear their testimony. It was such a nice fast and testimony meeting.


Now, comes the sad part.
The Goodbye. The night before we had to say goodbye, we stayed up late and talked about every single emotion we were feeling. What we're excited for, what we're sad about, what we're going to do when we see each other again...etc. We both shed a good amount of tears, but it felt so good to let it out because we've both been trying to be so strong.
The next morning after I was packed and we finished breakfast, he held me on the couch where we said "I love you" to each other about 500 times. Then we heard the inevitable car-door-slam outside and the only thing I could say was, "yuck." My family came in and said their goodbyes to Miles and his family. All of a sudden after my family was back in the car and his family was in the house, we were left alone on the porch and we knew it was time. It would be impossible to put into words what I felt during this time. So so so many emotions were happening to me. But I only let one tear out as we hugged, kissed one last time, and said "I love you, bye."

As I walked away from him, the love of my life, I felt such a feeling of peace come over me. It was almost as if he was still there, holding me. I know that at that moment, the Lord was answering my prayers and the prayers given by others for me.

The MTC. I wanted to be gone before he was set apart so I didn't have to shake his hand goodbye, so I didn't go to the MTC to drop him off. But, his family dropped him off there today and his mom sent me some pictures. How cute does he look in his suit with the name tag and all?

Home. I am actually doing surprisingly well. As long as I keep myself occupied or surrounded by people, I feel so much better. Every once in a while it hurts really bad and I have to grab my heart to keep it from breaking into pieces. But when that happens, I have to remember how amazing it is that my boyfriend is giving two whole years of his life to serve the Lord and how much he will grow in that time. Then when I think about that, I start thinking about MY mission and I get so excited! My papers are done and after my appointment with the Stake President, he will send them to the Brethren! Hopefully I'll leave in June which means I'll get back only three months before Miles! How exciting is that?! That is one of the things that helps me feel better.

I'm so proud of Miles. He is going to be an AMAZING missionary. He is so obedient and hard-working. I know that the Lord has already blessed him in so many ways for choosing to serve a mission. I can't wait to serve also and get home, wait 3 months, and finally be with my boo again!