A Colorful Crazy Time...

at the FeStIvAL oF cOLoRs!!! This thing was crazy! It was like "Mormons Gone Wild"...seriously! Its thousands and thousands of people who come to the Radha Krishna Temple in Salem, UT and take part in the festival they have. There are so many people who attend this thing that they had to set up two times you could come and celebrate because so many attend. At the festival the Krishna people put on a program where they dance and tell the story of the Festival of Colors (which I didn't pay attention to because I was taking pictures!) and then do a count down from 20 to throw the colors! I really had no idea what this festival was about but I knew I had to take part this year! I had seen the pictures from last year and wondered, "what the heck is this?!" and so I saw an advertisement about it this year on facebook and said, "heck yes, I am there!" So with that, I shall show you my crazy adventure at the fEsTivAL Of CoLoRS...

Kylie and I so excited for our ROAD TRIP!

What?! Every ROAD TRIP needs a Gansta Pic!

"Cheese on ice...we'll do whatever you like...yeah!"

(inside joke)

The Radha Krishna Temple

Our Holi Wear...Official Shirt and Colored Powder

Our Holi Eye Wear

(we think it's suppose to go between the eyes, oops!)

Ready to get my Holi on!

Our Holi Group

Kylie * Kirstin * Will * Kiera * Jaynee

Derek and I gettin our Holi on with Red Bull

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

Holi Dirty!!!

The Thousands of Krishna na na People

(or people like me who just wants to have fun!)

My Wonderful Colorful Friends

Willard! Me and Will went to Snow College

and haven't seen each other since...so fun to see him!

My Dirty Toes

Our Holi Hippie Photo

There are a lot more pictures of course but there is a sneak peek of went on! It was a lot of fun and I'm already recruiting future Krishna na na people for next year! After the festival we went into Orem and ate at Cafe Rio. It was so good! I was so hungry that I ate a whole salad by myself! We went back to Kylie's house and got washed up (washing my hair twice!) and taking a nap! After a nice little snooze we got ready and headed back to Provo to an after-party at The Loft, which was LAME! Provo dances sure are a lot different than those here in St.George...thanks AJ and Mikey for some awesome parties! The dance was lame so we headed over to Brady Jones' apartment to hangout. For the most part, the weekend was nothing but awesome...

* got some cheese at the Cheese Factory and then made a remix song about it!

* listened to 1 through 32 NOW cd's! Thanks Amy!

* "Manderfield! Let's Go There!" -Kylie

* saw some much needed friends...Nephi Boys from Snow College (Brady Jones, Casey Jones, Chase Olpin, Tyler Olsen), Cory Boyack also from Snow, and Will Brock...also from Snow! Just comes to show after YEARS of not seeing each other its as if we're still at college having fun! Love all you boys!

* "It's just something I don't need in my life right now!" -Mack, in regards to the Festival of Colors

* got to experience the fEsTIvaL oF cOlORs!
* saw Bounty Hunter. "you could show me your b**bs..."

* "You're an Idiot!" -Kirstin
* and just got to have a lot of fun with my girl Kylie!

Just a few more pics to wrap up the weekend...Thanks Kylie for all the fun!!! Much Love Ü

Didn't want to get my clothes dirty since we got them colored earlier!

Not quite sure about Provo, Utah...haha!

Dance was lame so... PHOTO OPT!

The End.

What Would I Do Without...

my Sonicare Toothbrush!!! I had went to the dentist yesterday only to come out with ONE itsy bitsy teeny weeny cavity! I was so surprised! It's been at least 3 years (gross, I know!) since I've been to the dentist. I got kicked off my parents insurance, then had to wait to get on my own insurance, and then I moved to St.George where I didn't know any dentists! I thought for sure the hygienist would at least take an hour just cleaning my teeth and then find out I have a mouth full of cavities but nope, just one little one! I owe it all to my Sonicare toothbrush that I have had for years! And I will admit, I HATE flossing! Takes only a minute but I sincerely hate it so with that...I thank you Sonicare for keeping my teeth nice and clean and healthy! Now on to the hott dentist... So with my poll taking on which dentist to use in St.George, I went with Amber Hughes' pick...                                                                Dr. Nathan Ence!

He is so cute and young and cute! He is very personal-able and seems to know what he is doing! I never did see his smile cause he had a mask on the whole time but those eyes, ahhhh! It's not creepy that I was staring into his eyes right? Where else are you suppose to look when your lying upside down, mouth open wide, possible boogers up the nose, and mood-setting music playing in the background?! Things went so well that we have a date set for the end of April! Guess I better go shopping... gotta look good for the Doc! Much Love Ü

The Best 2 Minutes of My Day

A Date With...

my blog! Amy is out on a date and well, I am not! So here I am spending my Saturday night blogging! Just wanted to give an update on what's been going on... I've been working a lot here in the month of March. A lot of people have been needing my help on my days off, so being the nice person I am, I always say yes and work. Along with all the work, there has been a lot of play as well! The weather here in St.George has been beautiful! Last Wednesday me and my friends spent the day playing sand volleyball, playing football, and just lying by the pool! It was so nice to soak up all that sun! My best friend McKenzie had her baby on the 1st. Mya Ann weighing in at 3 pounds. She was originally due the end of April but had her a couple months early. Both Mya and Kenzie are doing well. Mya will stay at the hospital until her little body grows some more but everything is going well! Congrats Kenz, I love you and your little baby! Some old friends decided to come visit which is always exciting! Hailee Thompson and her friends stayed a night at my house while on their way to the 311 concert in Vegas. We watched our New York video together which was hilarious! Hailee was a nanny I met when I went to visit Amber. We spent the whole week together and I remember telling her when we dropped her off at her car at the train station, "I know we just met but I love you!" That was 4 years ago and we've just kept in touch since then! My friend Brady Jones from Snow College came down earlier this week to play baseball in Mesquite. We had so much fun! We visited lots, went to the mall to buy him some sunglasses, got us some Frazils, and went to WalMart! Doesn't sound like much, but for a Monday night in St.George...it was awesome! Thanks Brady for an awesome night! Also this week, my old roommate Jessica Thurman came to visit. It was good to see Jessica cause it has been such a long time. We spent a lot of time just talking and had dinner with Leigh to catch up on things. Jessica lives in Laguna Hills so you know where my next vacation will be! Love ya Jess! It's been great seeing everyone and I'll be seeing a lot more of you with my 2 trips to Salt Lake in the next couple of weeks!
 

 Sarah and I on our Birthday Date...We had dinner at Applebees together and then went bowling with the boys. Dinner was awesome...I love ya Sarah! Good times for sure!

The Ory Boys...Cory and Roury
These boys think they are so good at bowling but in reality, they're not! My 1st game wasn't all that impressive so they were really thinking they were gonna kill me both games but my second game was awesome! I beat all the boys but Roury and I only lost by 5 pins! Booyah Boys!

So neither do I or Amy have a Spring Break away from school or work so we decided to have a mini one anyways! Last Saturday I headed down to Vegas to play with Amy since she was already there from softball. Her great parents took us to the buffet at The Orleans and Papa Gleic gave Amy $10 to gamble with. We would take turns spinning the ole slots to get more money but we lost like $3. We were suckers and would never stop while we were ahead! Afterward, we met up with the Ory Boys from St.George. Cory and Roury had come down for a basketball game and decided to play with us before going back home. We went to the ESPN Zone and played games...and no people, Roury didn't win them all! It was a lot of fun with these guys, they're so much fun to be around! Cory wanted to go back home so he could go to church but we were all tempting him to just stay the night and continue having with us...it didn't happen! Cory and Roury headed back returning to St.George at 3 in the morning! As for us girls, we weren't done playing...Amy and I headed over to the Monte Carlo to watch Zowie Bowie. Its this guy and girl who do cover bands singing and dancing! It was actually a lot of fun watching them but both Amy and I were so tired from work that day that we didn't last long on the dance floor! We went back to Amy's parents and crashed not waking up till 1:00 the next day! Her parents said if they didn't know me any better they would think I had a hangover! I love Mama and Papa Gleic! It was a great night getting out of St.George and having some Spring Break fun!

Kirstin * Amy * Roury * Cory

Boys...and their balls!

and ours?!

"winna winna cheekin dinna"

and the losers but hey its okay...we still love you!

702 Girls...yea yea!

And these would be from last nights fun...Honolulu Grill for great food and great entertainment! Gotta love me some Karaoke! And then off to another great dance brought to you by STGevents, our buddy AJ, and DJ Mikey! We sure do love to "shake what our momma gave us" and this time we even did a lil ZUMBA! 

Tira * Kirstin * Amy

Amy * Tira * Kirstin * Kylie

Thanks everyone for all the fun memories! Much Love Ü

What's In A Song...

a lot! I am a person who likes a song because of the beat it holds. Anything I can dance to, bob a head to, clap to, sing to, rock out in my car to, is what I like...rarely do I ever listen to the words! (Especially Rap! I'd rather not know what they're singing about!) But the other day I was listening to my ipod and the song "Happy" by Natasha Bedingfield came on and here are some of the words that got my attention...

"Got my dreams, got my life, got my love

Got my friends, got the sunshine above
Why am I making this hard on myself
When there’s so many beautiful reasons I have to be happy"

Of course there are more words to the song but those few words have been stuck in mind. What a true statement those words say and a good one to always live by! This year has not been a "happy" one for me but how wrong have I been! My life has really been put into perspective these last couple of weeks...all thanks to work! Can I just say how much I LOVE my job! You may think that all I do is draw blood all day every day, but do you really understand what I do? As a phlebotomist, we are the ones to collect the specimens, send them to the lab where they will run testing, and then the results of those tests will be given to the doctors. Seems quite simple right? But do you know what this means? This means we are the help we give doctors to diagnose their patients; to see if a patient has cancer, is pregnant, has an infectious disease, etc etc etc! The list goes on and on but how soon do I lose sight of my work. There have been a couple patients and incidents lately where the patients have really given me a reality check, not just for work, but for my life! (I didn't add names due to privacy laws! Just in case!)

Late one night, just before closing, a patient had come in to get some lab work done. Of course I was bugged cause it was getting close to 9:00pm and I just hate it when patients wait til the very last second to come in! Well I can't remember all that went on, but I do remember that she decided not to it that night because she was a really hard stick and I guess she wanted someone else to do it or didn't feel comfortable cause I was the only there, it was something like that. But since I was bugged she had came in so late I told her let's just do it. We did her lab work that night and then she came in the next morning to have some more labs drawn. Since I had gotten her the night before she wanted me to do it again. We sat behind the curtains and in tears she told, "I am so glad you convinced me to do my blood work last night. I have been in remission from cancer for the past 3 years and the blood work you did last night showed that it had came back and I am having to start treatment right away." Now I'm not quite sure all that went on with her blood work because I don't run the tests, but her cancer did come back. Call it a prompting or the urge to get out of there, but I am so grateful I could help this woman out! I hope everything is going okay, I can still see your face!

There is this boy about 10 years old who has leukemia. I have seen him every couple months in the past year and each time I see him he looks more awful. That's not a good word to use but its true. I don't know a lot about his story, all I know is that he's been trying to fight this sucker for a while now. His legs were so weak that he would have to use crutches. In the recent months that I have seen him, they amputated one of his legs giving him a prosthetic, and...it just wasn't good! He was bruised head to toe and his hand...it was completely black! My heart goes out to him and his family. They are so strong that I know he can fight this!

This patient is the hardest one for me to keep it together. He is just a little boy, about 5 years old, and once again I don't know 100% his diagnoses but the last time he came in "liver failure" was added. I have drawn this boys labs off and on for the past 2 years. He was once this cute mini man with reddish color hair and a little pot belly, always so happy and brave to do his labs! He is always so good and just sits there while we do our job. He came in recently, nothing but bones! Ah, my heart breaks just thinking about it! I didn't even recognize him until I saw his name. He was scared and didn't want us to it. He was in tears. He had a feeding tube. He was moving his arm around so I asked one of the girls to come help me. I was about in tears myself holding his fragile little arm that I told the other girl she would have to poke him. We didn't get blood right away so I prayed more than ever that we would get it and not have to poke him again. The girl still wasn't getting anything so with the needle still in his arm I took it and moved it just a titch and bam, we got blood! I'm not saying that it was because of me we got the blood, I thank the good Lord above for the help on that one! I think about you every day and pray that everything will be okay! You're just a little boy, you have so much life to live! Stay strong little buddy!

One more story...this one isn't so sad! So this week I was working out at Sunset and this old man came in with his daughter. He was with age that he needed a walker and his daughter to help remember information. We had a nice conversation while drawing his blood and having some fun. After we were done he got up and his daughter helped him put on his jacket. I thought I had seen a "Members Only" tag in the back on the jacket but I wasn't for certain so when he had it on all the way, I peeked my head around the man and sure enough, right there on the jacket it read, "Members Only"! I said, "Is that a Members Only jacket?" and his daughter said, "Yes it is. My son keeps telling me that its a collectible item!" I turned to the man with a huge smile on my face and said, "I feel so privileged to have drawn blood from a man who owns and still wears his "Members Only" jacket!" He laughed his old mans laugh and said, "I feel privileged standing next to a woman who appreciates it!" That totally made my day! Who can say they have seen a "Members Only" jacket, let alone knows what the "Member Only" jacket is?! Too much VH1, I Love The 80's, for me!! (His jacket looked just like this one, same color and all!)

These are just a few patients who are constantly going through my mind to help keep my life on a reality check! And as for the song...

* I have dreams and I will not give up on them coming true!
* I have a life! I have a job, family, friends, opportunities and adventures that I make for myself because I can and because they are there waiting for me. With that, I am so glad to be an American. What a great place we live in and the FREEDOM we have. The economy may be bad and our government may not be the best but think of all we have. Money pushed aside, just think of all the freedom! Thank You to All Soldiers for your bravery and heart to make sure I have a tomorrow...Thank You!
* I have love and a lot of it! Pretty much if you have made the slightest indent in my heart, I have much love for you! I take everything to heart so yes, I have a mighty big heart!
* I have friends! Oh boy do I have friends! I don't even dare go on cause this will be much longer then what it already is...just know that I love you, I care about you, and I appreciate all that you do!
* I have sunshine not only outside in the beautiful sky, but in my soul! "There is Sunshine in the Soul Today"! (ha Kasey, makes me laugh every time!) The light goes dim every once in awhile but eventually it comes back brighter than ever! I am a proud member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...enough said! (hit me if you don't know what this is...I know a couple of men who could help you out!!)

There is so much to be happy about so let's start focusing on the "happy" reasons and start enjoying life!

"Be Kind. Everyone is Fighting a Battle."

-Sister Marjorie Hinckley

I know this was long but I thank you to those who took the time to read it. It's kind of like a church talk, it's really for you more so than the people you're giving it to! Much Love Ü

Happy 24th Birthday...

to me!! Sorry for the delay in posting but I have been without the internet and when I do have it, it doesn't work so thank you parentals for your internet! So last weekend I turned the Big 2-4, oh yes people...I am 24 these days! This birthday was just like any other birthday, awesome! For those who truly know me know that my birthdays are always a blast! I always make sure something is planned so my birthday is just not another ordinary day...it's a celebration! Here's how it went down...

Thursday after work my friend Kadin and I headed to Vegas to see the Tournament of Kings dinner show. Can I just tell you how much I LOVE Vegas?! I LOVE VEGAS! Anyways, the show was awesome! Neither one of us had ever been before so we decided to go in celebration of my birthday. The food was surprisingly good and the show wasn't too bad either. Kadin was a great date but our company was even better! There was this guy who sat by us who was totally in the spirit, and I don't even think he was drunk! We sat in the Ireland section and this guy would always stand up and yell/grunt "IRELAND" and then rest of our section would join in on the yelling and chanting! It was hilarious! He definitely made the show a hundred times better! "IRELAND"! What a great way to start the birthday bashing!!

Our Dinner

Kadin Allen and I at the show

After the show we weren't quite ready to go to Amber's just yet (Thanks Amber for letting us stay!) so what better things to do in Vegas than gamble and dance!! Vegas was a mad house since it was Nascar Weekend so everybody was gambling so instead of fighting for the tables we just stuck to the machines! Kadin got hooked on a Roulette machine so we were there for awhile. These Chinamen were there and they were hilarious! They just kept throwing their money in and playing, so much fun watching them play! I was Kadin's good luck charm, even though he didn't listen to me all the time! I was on a roll...always go black!! After losing our money (a whole $5!) we went dancing. We got some wristbands for the club Prive in Planet Holleywood so we went to check it out. It was totally lame, only 5 of us were dancing! Yep 5, one white kid was dancing by himself! It was fun but not fun enough...we continued to walk the strip, watch the Dancing Waters, and hit up some late night Dennys! Thanks for an awesome night Kadin and Amber, always a pleasure seeing you! Even you Howie!! Thanks guys!

Kadin with our Gamblin' Chinamen

Kadin and I at Club Prive

My Birthday Milkshake

Friday I headed back to St.George to really celebrate my birthday! My sister had called me a few months ago to tell me Colbie Calliet was coming to St.George and that she was coming on February 26th and she wanted to take for my birthday, sweet! So I ran over and got tickets the day they went on sale! 2nd Row Baby! My 2 best friends from high school, Ashley and Leigh, came along with me and Steph. It was such an awesome night! Thank you girls for always celebrating my birthdays with me!

The 3 Girlies at The Pizza Factory

Ashley's face is just priceless!

Something "HOT" my sis gave me! I still don't know what it is! Foot Scrub?!

"Oh Yeah, you KNOW what time it is!"

This card was from Brooklin and Mason and when I had opened it I didn't even notice that MY face was on the front! I opened it and laughed cause it was a Zac Efron card and then continued to flip it open to see the inside, I flipped it back and then noticed my face on it and started laughing so hard! Steph said that when Brooklin saw my face on it she started laughing! Oh man...thanks for the creativity Steph!

Not only was Steph creative, so was Ashley. This is Ashley telling me that she's PREGNANT! She gave me 36 cents. I really don't remember the meaning of each coin but it was really cute! Both Ashley and Leigh are pregnant...bring on the baby shopping!

Stephanie * Kirstin * Leigh * Ashley

Justin Young opened for Colbie Calliet

Colbie Calliet

Colbie and Justin... they were awesome!

Me and My Seester

Our Excited Faces

Both me and Steph got to shake her hand!

Colbie wasn't ready yet for our picture...I waited!

Thanks Momma for my birthday cake! My parents were up north for the weekend so they couldn't be here to help celebrate, but without fail, my mom made my FAVORITE birthday cake ahead of time and had my sister bring it up! You're the best Mom! Thanks a ton...it was sooooo good!

Opening my birthday presents from the parentals

My New Cabbage Patch Blanket!

So, when I was 4 my Grandma Winters made me a Cabbage Patch blanket for me for Christmas. I have used that blanket every day since! It made the move to Mesquite, went with me to college, I went on some vacations with it, and still at 24 years of age, I still sleep with it...until now! Apparently my mom is sick of seeing its raggedyness and decided to make me a new one. This was suppose to be last years birthday present but with a year of hard work, it is now completed! I'm really excited about my new one but its gonna be sad not sleeping with the original! Thanks Mom for the ridiculously large blanket...who else is 24 years old and is sleeping with a Cabbage Patch blanket?!

Just when you thought all the balloons have been popped, all the candles have been blown out, and all the "Happy Birthday to You"s have been sung, your friends go and do something like this....

Lindsey Polatis and I

My good friends Lindsey and Sarah had invited me over Saturday night to hangout and watch a movie. They told me 9:00pm but I was at WalMart with Dave and Matt and well, we took our time shopping! We didn't get over to Lindsey's house until 10:00pm and to my surprise, they had a little birthday bash waiting for me! Some of the kids had already left cause they told me 9 (oopsie!) but it was still so great! Linds surprised me with a Reese's Ice Cream Cake lite with candles and everything! We enjoyed the night watching Couples Retreat and eating some fabulous ice cream cake! Thank you so much for the party and for everyone who was there! I love you girls and appreciate all that you did for my birthday!

The Fabulous Reese's Ice Cream Cake

(my name is even spelled correctely!)

My Christmas/birthday present from Lindsey!

She made this jewelry keeper hangy thingy for me...i LOVE it!

Well, there ya have it! Thank you all so much for the great birthday! I spent the weekend with a lot of friends who I just love and adore! Thank You! Now, time to start planning for next year...25! Ah!

 Much Love Ü