Life experiences are great!

Let's see, what day is it today? It's almost August and I feel like I just got done with school and it's still May. :) But my summer has been fun and eventful, have learned a lot. On July 3 I went home and stayed until July 20. I was supposed to stay until the 27, today, but I came home a week early because of boy scenarios not working out and needing to get back to Flag and working my tail end and just getting over the situation that made me very frustrated and angry. It was a fun time at home though, I taught Emma how to play tennis, went swimming and got a pretty nice tan which is now peeling. Hung out with a cute boy who was my boyfriend for a week and then we decided, but mostly he decided just cause he uses his head instead of going with emotions like me, that we should be friends because of religious differences. So there you have it, that's why I came home early. Actually, I shouldn't call him a boy, he's turning 23 tomorrow and has his own business and house and went to NAU and got his Bachelor's degree in business in 3 years from there. So he's pretty much all that I want but one of the most important things isn't there, he's not LDS but I'll still be working on him just as friends. He has really high values and morals and we believe a lot of the same things, he just needs to see that what I have and believe in makes life so much more meaningful and full.

Right now I'm sitting in my new apartment which is just off campus, north campus. I haven't really moved anything in yet because when I first came in here last Monday it smelled. I can't explain it other than it smelled like Uncle Jimmy's last apartment/nursing home place. I think it's a combination of the place being closed up for a month or more after the carpets were shampooed and then our neighbors cigarette smoke, who we share a balcony with (how lovely) and that smell permeating in through the walls. So needless to say when I'm here I've had all the windows and doors open, sprinkled a whole box of powder carpet deodorizer all over without vacuuming it up, and been watching candles burn. I hadn't brought my computer over here cause I wasn't sure if I could pick up an internet signal, didn't have any books and had a tv, but don't get signal and I didn't have any of my movies either. So when I said I would watch the candles burn, that's what I would literally do. Haha. But I would take naps or just sit and think. And lighting all the candles is a process too cause I have to go upstairs and all over the apartment. And getting something to light the candles with is another story. That's all my life is made up of, funny little crazy stories cause everything I have to do I have to do it or get to it in a round about way. But that's what I do in my quiet times, just look back and laugh.

Hm, I'm officially 19 now. My birthday was July 18 and I didn't do anything too exciting, just went to a movie at 8 in the morning, ate at Mimi's Cafe for breakfast, came back home in Pomerene and took a nap then hung out with my best friend later that evening and just did random stuff. So when we went to Mimi's Cafe it was so cute, these little details and things in life always make me smile. You know how in movies there will be a man and a woman eating by themselves in a booth and they both can't see each other eating by themselves because there's a little decorative curtain on top of the booths but all the other people eating at the restaurant can see them and want to hook them up. That's how it was when we were eating breakfast there. It was so cute, they were both sitting by themselves just enjoying their food in their lonesome. And of course when you go to a restaurant on a weekday in the morning, who is there? Elderly people. And I just love the older generation of people. So this man and woman were probably in there 60s and I just wanted to go over and hook them up. My birthday was just little things like this that I love to see and appreciate so much when I am able to witness things so rare. Well, I didn't go over there and tell them that they should eat together but I told my friends that I was eating with. Another little thing that happened was me and Brooke, my best friend I hung out with once she got off work, we went and played tennis at like 6 PM. It hadn't rained all day but when we decide to go play tennis, of course it rains. It was just sprinkling at first so we're like, oh this is fine, we'll still keep playing. Oh no, the heavens decided to pour. So we gather up the rackets and balls and head back to my car. It wasn't raining that badly yet but once we were back to my car it started raining harder. We decided to go running and luckily there wasn't close lightning so it was a wonderful run in the rain. Then we went back to my house and Emma, my niece who was having her summer stay with Grandma and Grandpa, wanted to go with me earlier to play with Brooke. It was heart wrenching to tell her no cause I hadn't had any personal time with Brooke in a long time. So she was crying and so sad when I left. I'm driving up the road after leaving the house and I get a call from Mom's phone. Answer and Mom says, hold on...several seconds later Emma gets on the phone and says, Aunt Margo, I never got to say goodbye. Oh little kids are so sweet. So I was tearing up a little bit when I was driving to meet Brooke. Anyway, so after we were done with our run and everything, we went to my house and I had told Emma that I would play with her when I got back . So me, Brooke, and Emma all played some games on Nintendo 64. Especially Mario Kart. All those years of being beat by my brothers ruthlessly paid off. I beat them every time. ha! Then me and Brooke watched this random show about determining who is beautiful and everything. They proved it scientifically and mathematically and it was interesting. So me and Brooke were measuring our faces according to their calculations to see if we were beautiful. And guess what, we both are!

While I was home I went to this boy's church to experience what he learns about and what he believes. I've wanted to do this ever since I moved up to Flagstaff, to go to other churches just so I'm not so ignorant and biased in my beliefs. One Sunday when I was home I was bored before church and so I decided I would just go to one of the churches in town. I looked in the newspaper for the times of when they started and it was already 10 so there were only two that started close to 11. I went to the one that started at 10:45 and I have to admit I was scared. I went by myself, was one of the few ladies in a dress and everyone else was in casual or every day clothes. I brought my bible in with me, it was a Baptist church and it was a good experience. They sang a lot and stood when they sang too. I am just grateful that in my church we can just sit and listen instead of having to stand up all the time and sing so much. I agreed with everything the pastor said and it was just good to learn about their church from the perspective of someone attending. I think once I start going to church at 1 up here in Flagstaff, once school starts on Aug. 25, then I will go to some other religions and learn about them. So since I went to this other church, I've just been interested in what others believe and what other churches believe. It's made my testimony stronger because our church makes so much sense and it makes everyone happy, even those who aren't in it. It would be horrible to be told or believe that everyone who isn't saved goes to hell. At least with us, if you don't get to hear about the gospel, you get your chance once you pass from this life. And I've also been researching some of the things that me and this boy, Caleb have discussed/argued about. I've decided to read the bible this year, well hopefully I can get through the Old Testament before the year is over. I've read the Book of Mormon three times already and haven't even read through the Bible once yet. So I started reading it about a month ago and it's so difficult to understand. I went online and got the Old Testament seminary manual and that's really helped a lot. The Pearl of Great Price just has so much more depth to it than the books in the Bible. I was reading in Genesis and didn't understand a part and it referenced me to Abraham. It was the same story and everything but in Abraham there was so much more detail. No wonder I haven't read through the bible yet. haha.

I've also been into this whole missionary mode because of talking to my co-workers at work and the things I believe and they believe. It's been great and has made me think about what I really know. There's an endless amount of things you can know in this church and no one in this life will ever know everything just because it is endless. God even says that in Moses, the only way you can know everything is if you aren't in the flesh just like it was with Moses. (Moses 1:5) He was transfigured and that's the only way he was allowed to see what God knows. Anyway, so that's what I've been up to lately to ease my boredom but it has made me excited about reading the Bible and having something to help me along so that I can understand what is going on.

I better end this post before it gets any longer. I should put some pictures in here so that it's not all text but I don't have any pictures to go along with what I talked about. Plus I'm just too lazy to do it right now cause I would have to load the pics onto my computer first. Until next time...