When paranoia becomes reality...

It was almost midnight and I was driving home from "Scrap Night" in Bountiful. I decided to take the back-roads home. It was a beautiful night and I was enjoying the time alone, so why not? As I reached Kaysville I noticed a very nice car behind me who just happened to be turning everywhere I was turning.

This sort of thing hapens all the time with complete innocent strangers... but in the back of our minds we always wonder "is this person really following me, or do we just happen to have pretty nearly the same destination?". But we always laugh it off, because in reality, how many times is it someone who really IS following us? Hardly ever, if at all.

I decided to turn down a less busy road. So did he.

I thought to myself "maybe I just happen to be headed in the same direction he's going.

I turned my music up louder to calm my nerves. I've always been one to imagine up in my mind things far worse than they actually are. I figured this was just one of those times.

I turned into a familar neighborhood. So did the nice car. In my rearview mirror I could see the car starting to follow behind even closer. Dang, I was turning everywhere this guy had to go! So I hurried through the tiny neighborhood towards the main road. I turned into a small cul de sac to turn around. The nice car passed where I was and onto the busy street. I went back through the small neighborhood where I had come, and the car went on his way.

*WHEW* I was just being paranoid!

But as I reached the end of the neighborhood the same car rounded the corner and sped up behind me.

I couldn't tell if it was the same car, or a new one that looked similar. It was a nice car, dark silver, and tinted windows.

But how could I be sure? I turned down a less busy road. He followed.

I pulled over to the side of the road. He stopped right behind me.

I freaked. I knew I was being followed, and it was way too dark to see any license plate numbers. Immediately I knew my next destination was the police station.

All my doors were locked and I quickly turned around, passing the car, onto the busy road. I called my mom in a panic, letting her know that someone was following me. She told me to head to the police station. I made it back to the main road, the car in close pursuit. My mom said she was about to call 9-1-1 when suddenly the car behind me turned on his lights.

Cop lights, that is.

I can tell you I've never been more happy to see those three colors flash in the rear-view mirror before. I was so overwhelmed with so many different feelings at that point that I screamed into the phone "It's just the cops! I'm okay mom. I'll call you right back!"

I was so relieved to the point of tears that the pursuing car was merely an undercover cop car. BUT WHAT ON EARTH....?!?!

The policeman approached my car with a flashlight. He introduced himself as Detective so-and-so, and asked to see my license. I shoved it into his hands.

"I am so glad you are a cop," I said, "I thought you were some freak following me! I was actually headed to the police station right now."

The cop began to apologize over and over again; I think he could tell how distressed I had become from his little pursuit.

He shone the light in my car and told me, "There's just been a lot of car burglary in this area, and so I just decided to follow you for a ways and see where you were headed. When you turned into this particular neighborhood I just decided to keep following. And when I saw you make that U-turn in that cul de sac I figured you were up to no good. I was just trying to check your tags."

At this point I felt like yelling to the poor guy.... "DON'T YOU REALIZE HOW FREAKED OUT I WAS!?"

But I didn't. Instead I said "All I knew was that someone seemed to be going my same direction, and out of nowhere you came again and kept in hot pursuit. I was serious about heading to the police station to see if you would follow all the way... I'm just glad you ended up pulling me over so I knew you were a good guy..."

He told me I had done the right thing, and the only reason he hadn't pulled me over sooner was because I was driving too well for any reason TO have him pull me over to check and see if I WAS a criminal. I hadn't made a complete stop at a sign so that's when he could pull me over.

Dang cops and their undercover cars. I was so scared out of my mind...

So in retrospect; if you think you are being followed (and you truly ARE), call 9-1-1 and continue on to the police station. Too many people have been kidnapped or hurt because of idiots who follow other cars. Just get yourself to the police station and stay in your car. (I sound like a paranoid freak, but seriously..) And stay on the phone with the police station. You will get help.

I was just lucky that my pursuer was just a cop, and nothing worse.

So he apologized again and let me on my way.

Such a defining moment for me...
UGH.

Hailey? Who's Hailey?

Last night we had a wicked awesome storm! I woke up to super loud thunder and huge flashes of lightning. It was so great!! I still can't tell how awake I was for it, because I ended up dreaming about being caught in the middle of a storm..but laying there, listening to the rain pelt the window and the thunder booming louder and louder each time, I couldn't help but smile as I drifted back to sleep.

So this morning, I went into my parent's room (Daddy was already gone. He's a junior high teacher and leaves pretty early). My mom was in bed reading a book and I asked her if she heard the storm last night.
"Yeah, I had to run out and make sure my tomato plants weren't drowning or getting ruined!", she said.

My mom planted some tomatoes a few weeks ago, and they've been her "babies" this past little while... They're in big plastic planters so we can move them inside if we need to. I could just see my mom darting out of bed in the middle of the night to brave the storm and save her precious tomatoes. I don't blame her, though... home-grown tomatoes are the BEST!

So anyway... we were talking about the storm when I remembered another storm that occurred about two months ago. I was at work (I work at a boutique/craft store two minutes away from my house) and on this particular day it was hailing.

There was a lady shopping with her six year-old neice at the time the storm hit. The lady had to run out to her truck to roll up her windows, so it was just me and the little girl. And that's when the storm got really bad.

I work in what used to be a warehouse; TALL ceilings, piping visible, and all that jazz. The roof is made of some sort of tin material, so the hail was LOUD. The little girl started to freak out, not knowing what on earth that noise was. She turned to me and said "What's that noise?!".

It was so loud I felt like I was yelling... "It's okay, it's just hailing on the roof!", I said to her, trying to comfort her.

She looked terrified; "Hailey? What's she doing up there??"

....

Huh.

Rain clouds, little birds, and creatures I'll never understand

It's raining today. AND I LOVE IT! I would much prefer a stormy day over a sunny day! The clouds get dark, the world smells clean, the sounds of rain becoming soothing.... what's NOT to love about rain?? (don't get me wrong, I love beautiful sunny days; I just like rain better!)

The only downside to rain is that I have a very difficult time waking up if it's raining. If I wake up to the sound of rain I'm back to sleep within two seconds flat. I love snuggling in a blanket listening to the rain... puts me to sleep like hymns put a High Priest into a fit of insomnia during Sacrament Meeting...*sigh* love it.

So after sleeping in a couple more hours than I had anticipated (thanks, rainstorm!) I got out of bed to get some breakfast. Now, I have two birds; a cockatiel and a red-bellied parrot. They both have quite the personalities. Coby (cockatiel) is a sweetheart. He's quiet and shy at first but isn't afraid to let you know when he wants something. He's high maintenance and loves to sing at himself in the mirror. Buddy (parrot) has a big beak, and he knows it. He's very smart and loves to dance to GOOD music (he loves Whitney Houston, Rihanna, and I've recently discovered he loves Beyonce, too. He's got great taste; a bird after my own heart!).

But when it rains my birds get into weird moods. They're probably just as fascinated in the rain as I am...they'll sit and stare out the window all day at the rain. I think it makes them happy that it's raining because they'll start talking more than normal.

So as I'm sitting in the kitchen I could hear them talking away....
"You wanna peanut?" "Good morning, Coby!" "MOM!" "Pretty bird!" "Good morning Coby Coby.." "I wanna peanut." "Pretty bird" "Mom??" "What's up?" "Here kitty kitty!" "I WANNA PEANUT!"

ALL morning. Both of them non-stop.

...That is until they saw a cat cross the street outside. Their playful chit-chat quickly changed to squawking and freaking out. Suddenly a peanut on a rainy day didn't sound so wonderful anymore...

Stupid cats. I feel the same when I see cats prowling around in the rain. First off, what on EARTH is it doing outside on a day like this? Second off, eating worms? A cat? Yeah.... And third....well.... I think that alone saying it's a cat is enough of an explanation in itself...

But after a peanut for the parrot, some seeds for the cockatiel, all was well in our household... Until the cat came around again to regurgitate the worm it just ate. Right in the middle of the road.

Beautiful, cat.
Beautiful.

Serving our King...

Yesterday was a day FULL of emotion. Up and down and all around! Yesterday I completed, submitted and handed in my mission papers. I was excited, terrified, happy, sad, reverent, nervous, giddy....all at the same time! But over it all, I'm so much at peace. Signing that last paper made me realize and appreciate that I'm "signing over" my life to the Lord for an entire 18 months. For a whole year and a half I am His servant in bringing others to the Gospel.

I promised a blog about being a princess and also my mission. How's about I kill two birds with one stone here, eh?

I'm a princess. I'm not spoiled, I don't have the fanciest of things, I don't sit on a throne, I have a job, I work hard for all that I have in my life, things aren't presented to me on a silver platter; but I'm still a princess. There's nothing more humbling than truly discovering who you are. The understanding of where you're from, who you truly are, and where you're going is such a blessing to have in your life.

I used to be the princess who would wait. I would just WAIT for good things to happen to me. Metaphorically speaking, I'd sit up in my tower and just expect good things to come my way. But we can't always receive great things without working for it. I wasn't in my tower for too long before I came down, pushed up my sleeves and started to WORK.

Now, I'm not one to normally say what's on my mind, and I can be horribly shy in social situations. I haven't exactly liked that about myself, but I've come to accept it. Once you get to know me I can be just as loud and fun as ever, but from a first glance I'm just a quiet, soft-spoken girl. So working became a big part of my life to achieve great things. From music, performing, academics, social situations, being a good person, etc all came from working at it. But I soon realized that I was wrong...

As much as I worked on these things, they were blessings from my Heavenly Father. All my life I've known how much the Lord loves me. All I had to do was look around me and know that these were gifts.

But what about the bad? What about those situations that came knocking on my perfect little castle door? Moments that seemed to leave me in nothing but a tattered dress, tarnished crown, and shattered heart? How could my King let something like that happen to me? I was His daughter! It was unfair! I hadn't done anything wrong to deserve something like this!

We've all been there. We've all felt this way at one point in our life or another. And one such situation fairly recent in my life left me feeling just that.

It was at that moment that I knew I could do one of a few different things:
*I could sit in the rubble of my defeated castle and remember how beautiful my castle USED to be. But what good would that do me?

*Or, I could get up, and work on rebuilding myself every new day. If I looked only at what was right in front of me, I wouldn't be able to see past the burnt rubble to notice the beautiful things outside of where I stood. I could realize that I was surrounded by wonderful things, and enjoy them while I labored hard at fixing up my once beautiful castle.

I think we all know exaclty which one sounds better, but that doesn't mean it's EASY choosing it...
But I WORKED at it. I called on my Savior for guidance and divine help. I sought friends and family for comfort and support.

And it was moments like those that made me see how much a stronger princess I was becoming. Looking around me opened my eyes to what I needed to do next. How could I EVER repay my Savior for what he had done for me? One who suffered and died for me? One who paid the price of every sin, hurt, pain and sorrow I'd EVER felt, when all He asks in return is that we follow Him?

My heart ached in knowing how much I really had been given on a silver platter. How spoiled I really was...

So now that my castle and beautiful things are still being restored from a long and hard battle, I wanted so much to show my King how grateful I was. How grateful I AM. I want to venture out and sacfrifice my time and efforts in bringing others to this kind of knowledge!

Our world is suffering. It's sick and full of hurt. This gospel and Christ's Atonement make life so much easier! I rejoice in knowing this! I want EVERYONE to know how much the Lord has done for us! Heavenly Father sent His only begotten to die for us.. to save us.

...It's just exciting!

THIS is why I'm serving a mission. It has been so hard to prepare to leave my life behind; family, friends, a scholarship at school, time, opportunities to goof off and do whatever I want....

But when these 18 months are up I'll know that I did my best. I served my King. I labored hard in bringing my brothers and sisters in this world back to our Savior's presence. This princess just wants to pay back what she's been given. It's impossible, but at least I'm giving what I can :)

Now, all this being said, I know not everyone goes on a mission. Going on a mission isn't the only way we can show our Lord how grateful we are for everything he's done! By living our lives the best we can be, attending the temple, marrying in the temple and raising children in the gospel, studying the scriptures, fulfilling our callings, living a righteous life, acting on faith in everything we do....THESE are ways we can show our gratitude :) because really, that's all He asks of us.

It's so simple.
And I love it.

It's not an invitation...

I have a car. His name is Spud. He pretty much ROCKS.

I've had a habit of naming the family car since I was three. I've owned three cars of my very own, all of them specially named (Marv, Lucy, and now Spud). I've even helped friends name cars of their own! It's a special talent. Spud was notoriously named by the "sputter-sputter-sputter" noise he used to make when I first got him. So I named him Spud for short.

Spud's a racecar. At least he SOUNDS like one... His horn doesn't work too well, either, so the other day with the bestie in the car, a truck cut me off and I went to honk at him. Spud's horn shorted out half way through making it sound like a friendly honk instead of the "Hey jerk! Don't do that!"-kind of honk....

It sounded more like *beep beep beep!* "Dear sir, thanks for pulling out in front of us. Scared the ever livin' out of me, but just thought I'd toot my little horn to say g'day instead!"

....thanks Spud....

Also.... When I'm sitting idle at an intersection, he naturally revs. Especially when I've go the A/C going. Even yesterday I was sitting at an intersection, Spud doing his own thing, and a car full of guys of a different race south of the border from here pulled up next to me. Noticing Spud's noisy banter, THEY started to rev their car; the anticipation of a green light must've been killing them... you could see it in their faces. I just sat there, turning my music up louder, watching the busy traffic to look like I hadn't noticed. I think that got them even more excited; "Hey chica! AYE AYE AYE!! LET'S RACE!!!!"

The light turned green and they sped off. They yelled and hollered and cheered at their victory as I calmly sat in my cute little car. Silly boys...

I was turning right anyways.

Mystery solved. Case closed!

For MONTHS now I've been hearing a coo in our neighborhood: a soft coo of an owl. That's exactly what it sounded like to me. Never being able to see what was making that sound, I just assumed the tiny owl was taking up his humble abode in our neighbor's tree.

But it was bugging me. I could never catch a glimpse of this little creature.

Well, the other day as I was walking out to my car, a dove flew right past my head making a horrible cawing noise. Definitely not a crow, but it sure sounded like one! He sat on our roof and watched me move things in and out of my car. That's when the coo started again! I immediately turned to face the neighbor's tree to see if I could see the owl. But noting that it was daytime, I started to second guess myself. WHAT THE HECK?! I looked up at the dove. The cooing continued, but the dove just sat there peacefully staring at me, beak closed, and not a care in the world.

.... So it wasn't him.... right?

Last night my Daddy and I were sitting on our front porch talking and enjoying the nice weather when the cooing started up again. The same dove was sitting on the lamp-post. Piece by piece, I figured maybe the owl was non-existant, and this little grey bird was the source of the beautiful coo. (however, his caw is just plain sad...)

Googling "Mourning Doves", I discovered my new little friend has been the source of the "mysterious cooing noise". This vid shows exactly what he was doing that day that he just stared at me... they DON'T open their mouths when they coo!

Anyway... I'm a nerd. But I love birds, so just bear with me...

*ahem*

0:17 seconds starts the coo

Ain't he CUTE?! He's my new little buddy.

So, in closing, just enjoy nature. There are so many beautiful things around us... take time to notice the birds and flowers. Heavenly Father has given us this wonderful nature for our pleasure and enjoyment! SO ENJOY IT!! :) 

Thath tho thweet of you...

MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU!

I'm not a die hard fan of the Star Wars saga... I just like it. Growing up watching the "old" versions with my Daddy gives me a good appreciation for the movies. (let's face it... they rock!)

So in honor of May 4th, (known to all us nerds out there as Star Wars Day *woot*) I give you Star Wars: Cockatiel style.
(I have my own cockatiel. He's a sweety. And yes, he knows epicness when he hears it, too)

EPIC.

Let them eat cake! (Or at least let me make it for them..)

Missions aren't cheap. And since I wasn't exactly planning on going on a mission, I wasn't exactly saving money to actually GO. I'd thrown around the idea for a mission for quite some time, but never got the courage to make that final decision. "To go, or not to go?" That was the question!

So now that the Lord has made it pretty clear that this is the path I must follow, I've been putting my butt in gear and saving up and spending less!

Those of you who know me probably know I have a difficult time asking for help...or ANYTHING for that matter. I'm very passive and am truly happy to do whatever anyone else wants to do. But when it comes to asking for help, I struggle.

I'd prayed for a long time to find a way to make money without just asking for it (that idea to me is just....lame. And kinda selfish..?) so why not use the talents God gave me and use it to make money for the mission?!

I'm a cake decorator (I'm coming up on my one year mark! Woot!) so I've put on my "entrepenuer cap" and have made flyers for the neighbors and close friends. Missionary Cakes! The idea was inspired by Mom. It's perfect. This is my first week since I've handed them out and already my schedule is filling up with orders! I didn't know how effective it would be.... And I'm glad to see it's working out splendidly!

I'm surrounded by good people and I feel better that in my own way of asking for help, I'm earning my wages! All the proceeds from these cakes are going to my missionary fund. I feel good in helping others, and at the same time getting more money.

Here's some personal faves! (some more at the bottom, too)

I love decorating. I love seeing reactions when people receive their cakes. I love getting creative and knowing "I did that". :) I've been so blessed with this idea. I've even had some offers from wonderful people to not even order a cake but to just give money. That's NOT the idea, so I'm gonna surprise them with a cake anyhow! Heavenly Father has answered my prayers... and for that I'm forever grateful.

A royal pain...

So in preparation for my mission, I needed to get another dentist checkup. I've never been one to hate going to the dentist, but after THIS appointment...

My two front teeth have a small gap. They always have, and probably always will. I hated it when I was little... But I liked to imporvise and make the best of it by showing off that yes, indeed, I could stick my straw in between my two front teeth. It was a talent I was sure no one else could possibly possess.

My little gap gives me character!

So as I'm laying in the dentist chair he leans over me and says "Did you know you have a gap between your two front teeth?"

"Yes, I know," I replied.

"Well, you know, we can fix that for you. It doesn't effect anything. There's nothing wrong with it. I just figured you might want to get that fixed..."

.....Hm. The tone in voice made it sound like I really should consider it. Was it really THAT bad?

I laughed and said, "Oh no. That's alright. I think it has character! I mean, it doesn't look that bad, does it?"
I looked over at the nurse and her expression was that of disgust and concern, as if my life was doomed to be ruined forever if I said no.

*Awkward*

So I politely said no thanks, for the second time, and left my appointment. When I got in my car I looked in my rear-view mirror. It's not that big! Really! And then I was reminded of a Brian Regan comedy clip... The part I'm thinking of starts at 4:40...

"IS THAT A HUMP?!"
Thanks to all the docs out there making us more aware of our.... "abnormalities".... Thank you.