Presidents Weekend

I was fortunate enough to be able to head home for Presidents weekend. Sam and Amanda were headed out and since basketball is over I was able to take two days off of work and have a mini vacation. SO NICE! Sam drove the entire way which was super nice. I slept and read in the car, oh and ate way too much but that is what you do when you are in the car for 10 hours. Dan was able to come home as well so the whole family was together. That means lots of craziness, laughing, teasing, games, and some inappropriate comments.

Olivia is growing up way too fast. I got this hat for her. My neighbor makes them and I think they are adorable. I don't know that Olivia loves hats and the weather in California is not that cold but it is super cute on her.

We really just hung out all weekend. Either at Ben and Katie's or my parents. It was also Katie's bday while we were home so that was fun to celebrate.

All my pictures seem to have Olivia in them. I didn't get my camera out enough but it is so fun to capture pictures or her in all her craziness.

Sunday night we played games until midnight. Mikila joined us and my stomach was seriously sore from laughing, well my face also hurt from smiling so much. Good times.

The trip bonus was that so many friends from high school were in town. I love these girls!

Birthday Overload!

Truth be told sometimes I am not great at taking pictures or drawing them.

(I didn't draw this Katie did but it was one of my favorites from the night it went from construction worker to fire escape. I can't get enough of this game. I laugh constantly)
My birthday weekend extravaganza. I felt very spoiled this year. Friday night Ben and Jana took me out to some delicious Thai food. Somehow Dan got to benefit from my birthday dinner as well. Not quite sure how that happened (although it happened once before), but the food was great as was the company. Unfortunately it did not send Jana into labor. I was really hoping the baby could come on my birthday.

Saturday I had to coach basketball. It is our end of season tournament. My team surprised me with gifts on the bus. Not just one gift but multiple gifts. Hot tomales, a book, and a curling iron. They love it when I curl my hair but I haven't curled it recently because the handle has a huge crack and I had a dream that it electrocuted me. Silly dream but quite frightening and not worth the risk. Well they got wind of this and took action. Now I have new very nice curling iron. They are expecting curls for the game tomorrow. But the best part was they won their game. I told them that was all I wanted for my birthday and they gave me that!

After the victory we went to Pizza Pie Cafe where coaches and bus drivers eat free, yo yeah! They did dessert there for me also. And sang again, the third time they sang happy birthday. So that was all a little overwhelming but very nice of them. I don't need anyone to sing me happy birthday for a very long time.

Saturday night was girls night with my aunts and cousins. We had some yummy dinner and played games. So fun. I have been fighting a nasty cold for a few days but it was still super fun.

This morning I woke up to snow. It snowed all day. I decided to take my Sunday walk anyways. I really enjoy walking in the mornings before 1 o'clock church. It was a little wet but not too cold.

I got home from my walk and Katie had made some yummy breakfast. Church was great. I wore a new dress that I bought with the money my parents sent me. Thanks Mom and Dad! A Costco special that I love.

Dan made some delicious steak for dinner and Katie made a great salad. Overall I felt very loved and had a great weekend. I can't believe that I am 32 but I am determined to make the best of it.

I was a little sad Friday thinking about how my life is just different than what I wished for and expected and then you realize that everyone's life is that way to a point. And then I started thinking that it is more important to focus on whether or not I am where the Lord needs me to be and am I doing the things he needs LaNell Brown to do. And you know I think I am on the right track. I am not perfect but I really try to follow the spirit and make the right choices. More than anything I have seen and felt so many weaknesses exposed this year at work. Both from teaching and coaching. It has been really eye opening and difficult but I think I am becoming a better teacher, coach and ultimately person because of it.

I am really looking forward to this coming weekend. I am headed home for the weekend. I am way excited. Nothing like a few days off! That is my birthday present to myself.

Blah

I feel blah because it was fast Sunday and then I totally ate an entire days worth of calories in a 2 hour time period. You would think by now I would be smart enough not to do that. YUCK!

Last week was LONG, LONG, LONG! There were incidents with parents, with students, with players. It goes on and on and on. I was so happy when Friday night finally rolled around. And to start the weekend off my basketball team won Friday night. We have not won a lot of games this year so I was super happy for them.

Yesterday I attended an 18 stake girls camp meeting. Seriously how crazy is that. There were so many people there. Everyone involved with girls camp was invited. It was seriously amazing. Sister Dalton the young women general president came to speak...amazing. And then there were 4 hours of classes. It was training for camp. I am so excited and overwhelmed. I walked away having felt the spirit so strong. I always knew girls camp was important but my testimony of that was definitely strengthened. It was so great to hear the values and be reminded of the sweet spirit that is present as you talk about the young women's standards. The spirit was so powerful and it reminded me of my days as a young women and how I remember feeling the spirit so strong during different lessons and activities. I know my testimony really began to blossom in young women's. And now I have the responsibility to help other young women have that same experience. That is a lot of pressure but I am excited. You should listen to a song written for the young women theme this year. The song is Guardians of Virtue. I love this song. It is amazing.

My Dad is in the hospital again. Total bummer. I just hate that he is in the hospital and that he is so far away. I hate it a lot. He was admitted on Thursday. We are hoping that he is cleared to head home tomorrow. His body was retaining way too much water. He has lost 8lbs in there now that they were able to get the water out.

I applied for grad school at USU. The school counseling program. I am not 100% I will do it even if I do get in but I think it could be really interesting. I think the psychology classes could really help me as a teacher but even more so as a coach. We will see what happens there. No thesis involved so that has got to be a good sign.

Superbowl Sunday. I think I am one of the only people in the world that could care less about the Superbowl. I don't think I have followed professional football since I lived at home like way back in high school. Crazy.

I am expecting great things for this week. It is the last week of basketball. My dad should get out of the hospital. I have a physical tomorrow and can hopefully get referred to a physical therapist. My student teacher should be teaching more classes. Yup all things point to a great week!