Just another day in paradise

Um, so I LOVE summer so far! Pretty sure, it's my favorite.

Today I got to go to work at 8:15, fix some breakfast, get the house all spruced up pretty, work on a couple projects, and make sure the girls were doing their work as well. They boys are at their high adventure camp so it's just me, Juliette, and Annabelle. It was fantastic! The girls were able to get their work done right after lunch which meant play time, which meant ... we got to go to the BEACH! The sun was out and the water temp was even nice for us. (sometimes it can be really cold...) It was a blast. Then we got to come home and take a dip in the pool before showering off. We fixed a nice little dinner and then did some dinner clean up, and then I got to get ready for Institute, which was awesome! We're studying the Pearl of Great Price and the creation was today. I love the earth. And the ocean. And the sky. And everything. It's all so beautiful! I had such a fun time with everyone there. I was invited to a So You Think You Can Dance party tomorrow night and I was asked out by two different boys for this weekend... :) One of the first weeks I was here, Shannon told me that none of her other nannies ever dated this much. It's great fun. After Institute I got to go eat at Freebirds with my friend Jon. They have MASSIVE burritos and quesadillas! We split a chicken quesadilla and it was super good but it was just so HUGE. Like, WAY HUGE.

So yeah, life in California can be beautiful. Yes, at times it can be stressful, but things really are going well. Now I just have to figure out if I should give myself bangs and more layers and dye my hair a dark auburn. I kinda like what the sun's doing to my hair out here though... the natural sun highlights are kinda cool.

That's What I'm Doing These Days

I wake up and dream drops, they fall down like rain.... JUST KIDDING. Just thought I'd stick with the song.

So... here's a little synopsis of today...

Got to work at 7:15 AM. Got breakfast, lunches made, the girls off to school... then we started going through some boxes in the garage... and by "the garage," I mean the second 3 car garage that is holding all their random possessions while they're rebuilding their house, not the 3 car garage that actually has half their cars in it. We had to make a space for the appliances (which are coming Friday) to fit it. Pretty sure there are a BILLION spiders in California! Pretty sure I saw two black widows today and was scared. Gross. After that, I was finally able to get ready for the day by putting on my makeup and eating some breakfast (an English muffin... not much of a breakfast if you ask me). I helped the boys (Peter- age 14 and Benjamin- age 13) go through some boxes. Then I went to pick up Juliette (age 6) from school (kindergarten). We (I) got to make some sandwiches to bring up to Shannon and her contractor and who ever else works with her all day for lunch. I left the kids there to play while I ran to Home Depot and Costco... and VONS. It was crazy. It was like 2 and I hadn't really had food all day so I was grateful to be at Costco to take advantage of their crazy cheap food prices. Yay for Costco. I went home and started making some stew for Steve (the father) and the boys to take for their little ranch trip they were leaving on. (They have a ranch in Bryce Utah). Then I went back to the elementary school to pick up Annabelle (age 10). Worked on the stew some more and got the girls off to swim team practice. Then I got to come home and FINISHED the stew and helped get the boys packed and ready to go. Then it was time to go get the girls from swim team, did a favor for Shannon and got her a drink, came home, finished packing the boys, sent them off... THEN I had to get some dinner for the girls! Shannon went back up to their other house (the one they're rebuilding) and so I ate dinner with the girls (grilled cheese sandwiches and leftover homemade tomato soup), cleaned up the kitchen, took the girls to Shannon at the other house, ran to Fresco's Cafe to pick up dinner for Shannon, dropped it off, and then I was off at 7:15 PM!

It was a busy day... but not too bad. I was happy enough. Only 3 more weeks and I'll be home for a whole week with NO work! Yay! Oh, I'm excited! And just about 2 weeks until I'll be able to see everyone for like a day for the 4th of July. Life is good. And So You Think You Can Dance is on in like 2 seconds and I actually get to watch it so I'm happy!

Happiness is finding a pencil

So... last weekend was really rough. I worked for basically 72 hours straight... and it was difficult. I started to feel sorry for myself and just miserable about everything. I was ready to quit, just come home and be with my friends and family where I could have a life again... and then talking with a friend made me frustrated as well. I couldn't take it anymore and so I had a good long conversation with my Heavenly Father where I (literally) cried out my heart to Him. The next morning was Sunday and it was.... BEAUTIFUL. Every lesson or talk in church was exactly what I needed to hear. Why was I so unhappy over the weekend? It was because I was only thinking of myself-- my poor sorry state-- the same thing I was getting frustrated about with the kids. It was a really humbling experience. I was able to be reminded about why I am in California in the first place and that I need to forget myself and go to work to really be happy. Yes, this job is demanding, but there can be happiness in it if I can remember to serve with an attitude of gratitude and love. This is where I can find my happiness and contentment. The days will still be long and hard, the kids might still pick on me, my boss still might lecture me, but I can be happy and put forth an extra effort to be even better! It made me really happy to realize these things once again. My happiness is not when I'm concerned about myself, but it's when I'm helping others and loving them! :)

Realizations

Sometimes I'll be driving down the road and I look at the palm trees and think to myself... "holy cow! you're in California! You really do live here!" and it just blows my mind! I still don't think I'm used to that fact and I don't know if I ever really will be. I've been here for a whole month now, even recieved two whole paychecks, and it's still crazy to me. The job has gotten easier as I've gone along... still a lot left to learn but I'm getting better and I think they're getting more used to me. I miss my home, family, and friends like crazy sometimes, but I just think about how I'll get to come home in just over a month and be there for a whole week. So while I'm here, I can work a lot and earn more money and SAVE my brains out.

Another realization I have is that the longer I'm away from home, the more I grow to love it. I appreciate the comforts that come and how fortunate I was to be able to live so close to home while I was at college! The more I'm away from everyone, the more I love them too. I thought that moving out here would make me forget about everyone as I made new friends and had new experiences, but I really just have grown fonder of everyone! It's crazy how that works but I'm still really glad about it.