Redbox Chasin'

Life after college has been an education. I have been searching for a job all last week. It's been a good experience to see how the whole process works and how I can use my degree. The tough part is seeing how I can use my degree out east. I have known how to use my degree out west but didn't know it'd be so different in North Carolina. So the job search continues. I have an interview tomorrow for a part time job for an after school position, but I honestly don't feel right about it. I just think I'm meant to work with students with special needs, and that's what I really want to get into. There's a school here in Charlotte that does exactly what I want to do called the Cyzner Institute...and they are going to open a new classroom starting in January so I'm hoping things work out with that place.

In the mean time I've been the cook around the house. I recently made this really great recipe called Butternut Squash Soup. Check it out! I plan on making some New Years Chicken this week, which is basically sesame chicken but I'm going with the name my friend uses, and she gave me the recipe. I also did an overnight babysitting job this week. A couple with two boys (10 and 8), needed to go to a work Christmas party in Georgia! Yeah...Georgia. So I stayed the night and got them to school the next day. It was a lot of fun. The older boy really liked baseball so we got along great. He was playing a baseball video game and he decided to be the Redsox. It was awesome because I would tell him who was a really good hitter and stuff like that. He was a Redsox fan by the end of the night if he wasn't one before. :) It's sad because I know the team I love is changing in dramatic ways, but I won't get into that just now.

One more thing that keeps me occupied is our puppy: Joey Anne! :) We just call her Joey, but we want people to know that she's a girl. She looked like a little kangaroo at times...hince the name Joey. She is too cute. I just have to put a picture up.

I thought I'd just get annoyed with her because we have to worry about where she is all the time...but I just love her.

I've been attending the singles ward the last couple of weeks and I think I'm going to really enjoy going there. It's SO different than it was when I was there in the summers of 2007 and 2008. Everyone is pretty much married and new people have come in. But I've made a friend already and it's been fun to start fresh.

Coming home has actually been really amazing. Besides the fact that I have to job hunt, I've been having a great time. This weekend was a ton of fun because we were just sooo silly. Mom, Andrew, and I went around looking for the movie The Help at 5 different Redbox locations. We were determined to find it. Every where we went, it was gone. We were about to give up, but we remembered there was a blockbuster box at our local grocery store. My mom said, "Should we go?"
Andrew and I, "LET'S DO IT!"
We crossed the street and as we did, without rehearsal or word, we all rose our hands in the air and screamed in determination. And that's how the night started, we went from there and became more hilarious as the night went on. We did get to see The Help, on demand! It was more expensive but worth it, I knew that Mom and Andrew would love it.
The funny night carried over to the next day...I love when that happens.

Still Running,
Arica

The Last Leg of the Race

Friday: November 25

While many thousands of people were spending millions of dollars Ashleigh and I were on our way to the Manti temple. It's in the middle of the boonies but it's such a beautiful temple! We were able to enjoy the time in the temple and then we were going to go down to St. George for Cafe Rio and just to see the temple. But we decided we wanted to just get on the road. So we started on our trek home. We were on our way to Colorado when we stopped at a gas station (the only place to eat for miles and were starving) and Ashleigh saw an atlas by the cash register. 

Ashleigh: "Let's get that atlas..."

Arica: "They're always so expensive.."

*Arica picked it up and looked at it....$12. Hmm. 

This was probably the best idea Ashleigh could have had in that moment. We bought the atlas, turned off the gps,  and navigated out way across the country! It felt so COOL! I don't know why, I just felt like I could go anywhere because of that atlas! I will forever have an updated atlas in my car because of this trip. 

We made it to Texas in the first leg of the race. (That's my Amazing Race lingo coming out.) 

Saturday: November 26

We woke up early at 5am. It wasn't planned but we were both awake at that time and started talking so we decided to get and go. We drove through the rest of Texas and Louisiana, almost into Mississippi. We made good mileage that day but we were way tired.

Sunday: November 27

We woke up when we wanted to wake up whenever we wanted and started on the road. We didn't make it to where we wanted, which was Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I had a friend there that I thought we could stay with but it started raining and it was dark so we decided to stop in Mississippi. 

Monday: November 28

This is the DAY! We made it to North Carolina on this day...but it wasn't easy. It was raining the entire day, from Alabama to North Carolina. It was scary at times especially since we were just ready to be there already. This is what happened:

Yeah I was ready to be there. And we made it safe and sound! I tried to make it a secret that we made it home before my mom but I gave it away! She asked about ideas for dinner (pretending that we were still on the road) and I said, "oh we'll just talk about it when you get here." and she said, "Here? Where are you..YOU ARE HOME!" So it was no surprise but still a great night. We came home, went to dinner, came home and Ashleigh got engaged! She's officially getting married. 

It's a brand new chapter of my life and I'm ready to start it. I feel like I've had a lot of "new chapters" and I can't wait for more. :)

Always Running.

Arica

GO SHUM!

This post is dedicated to the Shumway Family. I am so thankful for them. I can never repay or every forget the Christlike service they provided for me. I love them like my family and will always consider them that way. We had some great times and a lot of laughs.

We had some friends come and stay with us while I stayed with the Shumways. Kyall is from Australia and Glenn is from England. They stayed for 2 and a 1/2 weeks on holiday.

They were fun to have around and invited me to come with them one night to an arcade called Nickel City. SO much fun but Kyall (who I had an alliance with) got most of the tickets for our team. I thought all of the prizes looked like junk so I let him pick for me. He chose a potato gun. I had never done a potato gun before and wasn't sure how to work it so this is what happened. (This is for YOU Diane!)

Tanner was kind enough to show me the way it's supposed to work:

BHAHAHAHAHA! Yeah...I learned a lot.

Speaking of Tanner. We had a lot of fun together. We HAD fun but we also MADE fun. It was a love/tease relationship. :) We'd...ehem...help entertain each other during church, watched Jim Gaffigan together (BACON!), and he'd school me on the Wii. He'd always beat me at things because he can't take losing which is good since he plays sports. Either way we had fun.

That pretty much sums us up! OH except this one other picture. Glenn's sister came from England as well, for thanksgiving. We went out to dinner and this just happened. :)

He was so embarrassed. Oh I love that kid. 

Loren and Diane were great listeners. I'm sure Loren got the idea of what it would be like to have a daughter. 

Loren or Diane: "How was school?" 

Me: "OH my gosh...blah blah blah! etc." 

But they'd smile and nod. :) They'd also give good advice. I love that while they considered me their daughter...they also treated me like a friend. I could talk to them about anything. 

I loved going to football games and other family outings with them. It was such a blast! 

My love and gratitude can not be more expressed. Thank you a million times over. :) 

Love,

Arica Page

(Sister Page)

Besties & Thanksgiving Plans

First WATCH this video...it's so funny. I was reminded of it I as wrote my post title!



I guess I need to let myself be heard after my long absence. :) Today I officially signed the last document to finish my student teaching! I received my summative evaluation from my cooperating teacher and my supervisor...on a scale from 1-4 I was given all 4s on my performance! WOOT! I feel like I worked really hard and that it paid off.

Thanksgiving is going to be nontraditional for me this year. I have been spending all of my thanksgivings (mission aside) at the Hegerhorst farm. Even when my friend Emily was on her mission I still went over. It has become home away from home! So I planned on going there the whole time I was living here. Alas, it cannot happen. I am driving back to North Carolina the day after the big Turkey Day! Ashleigh my older sister, is coming out to drive with me. She has a small window of opportunity to do this because of school. SO we looked at tickets and it looks like TG is the best day to fly out on. She'll come in around 2:30 and spend the rest of Thanksgiving with us, then we'll drive in the morning. No farm this year. :(...   It is sad because I really do love that family away from family. While I feel bad about that I still I can't begin to tell you how excited I am for thanksgiving because....three of my besties are coming down from Rexburg! Arin, Kristin, and Valerie! They will be here Wednesday! Plus, a Shumway thanksgiving has GOT to be fun in and of it's self.

Anyways, my besties and I just skyped tonight because we can hardly wait to hang out again. I truly love skype! I used to be against it because I figure why not just talk on the phone but my heart was softened. You can talk to more people on skype and feel like you're in the room with them. I love it. Still not the same as being there but 2nd best.

I feel so accomplished. I'm actually graduating and moving on with my life. It's an interesting feeling but I'm excited for it. Now all I need to do is pack. I want that to be done by itself. I hope I can fit everything in my car....I'll be sure to document the trip home. Ashleigh and I are going to have a blast! I'm making cds, collecting good books, and getting my camera ready! This trip should go down in HISSStory.

Name the Movie Quote of the Week:
"Not her and I "us"....YOU and ME "us"!"

Happiness Runs,
Arica

I'm Back!

So I went on a hiatus from blogging...as you can tell! I tried out a new website that I still love but it wasn't meeting my needs and I found so many cool new things to do on blogger so here I go again.

I'll skip the nitty gritty of everything and get onto more general things. I have "walked" for graduation but I officially graduate with my degree in the next couple of weeks. I've been doing my student teaching in Kearns, Utah while living with some mission friends in Lehi. I feel this was the perfect place for me to live! I became closer to a family I didn't get to see much on my mission but wished I could have, I was half way between Salt Lake and Provo and I have friends in both, AND I was able to see a lot of old investigators or recent converts while here. It's been an amazing ride.

It's interesting since I have been in practicums before where I'm in the school setting, something I've come to learn is that there are no two like experiences. No matter if you've done something before it's always going to be different. I learned you need a learning curve with anything you begin. I don't think I accounted for that and I got hit in the face with a big slap of humility. It was good for me to realize my weaknesses and move on and upward. I especially have enjoyed my time in these classrooms. I've fallen in love with my students and I am sad to leave them and not know how they're progressing and the funny/cute comments they make. They truly made my day and I know they are the reason I did this major.

I've had many adventures while I've been here but I'll sum them up with some pictures:

I learned how to shoe a horse and was taught the ropes on the basics of each part of shoeing. It was so nice of Loren to let me come with him and boys. It was before the first day of school and I didn't have a care in the world! (except maybe that the horse would poop on me...) It is hard work and I admire Loren for what he does all day.

I saw my companion Amber Mosley! It was a God send for her to be here the time I was here and that we got to hang out as friends not just companions. Although we called each other by our last names for a while. She is one of my best friends and we hung out for the last time last night. She asked, "When will I see you again?" I couldn't answer. I don't know. BUT it will happen. There are so many people I love and so many great memories to be had I will make an effort to visit people. Traveling is going to be a hobby of mine. :)

I went to Rexburg on two occasions to visit my sister one time and to visit the crazy nuts you see to the left. Kristin and Valerie are two my best friends! It's amazing how two people come into your life in two very different ways and yet we are all such good friends. :) I did miss being so close to them and knowing what was going on every day BUT it's made our friendship stronger and we have definitely grown closer in the absence.

I was able to go out with the sister missionaries while I was here. It was hard to schedule a time we could get together but we finally did it and I LOVE them. They are in a bilingual area and it furthers my future goal of learning spanish. :) It will come one day but I'm just not in a place to start studying it. Either way they are way fun girls and I wish them the best. They work hard but they definitely have fun too! :)

There were many more stories I can tell and if I think of them I'll be sure to update this. :) There are a lot of Shumway stories I could have told too but there aren't a lot of pictures to go with them, I'm not sure why but we didn't take many. I will during Thanksgiving and make a separate post all about them because they deserve it. Their generosity has been so Christ-like and I will forever be thankful for them. Until next time...hopefully I'll be better about updating this, we'll see.

Happiness Runs,

Arica Page