Gangsta Parrots Forever!

I love mission friendships because I realized I can just pick up where we left off and go with it. I also love that no matter how long it's been since I've talked to one of my mission friends they are willing to catch up with out it being awkward. With that in mind, Liz Harwood came into town this past weekend and stayed with me. It was like we had been companions yesterday. While we did talk about our mission, I'm SO thankful we are able to become friends outside of that. We talked about everything and it was never a dull moment. She pulled up right as I pulled in from work, and I received a hug from one of the best huggers!

We hung out that night and stayed up late. On the mission I knew Liz to be very tired by the end of the day so I assumed she'd want her sleep. We stayed up past 1am! Then the next day she went to Greensboro for some graduate school stuff and I went to work. It was good that we were both busy the whole day or one of us would have been bored. She came back to my house and we went to Fudruckers per her request. Then we went to the cheap theater and saw "Sherlock Holmes" the new one. It was good to see...at the cheap theater. We had decided to go to bed early that night but our movie got out at 11:30 and then we came home and talked again until...12:30 am. It was worth it though.

We had a full schedule for the next day but decided to take it easy and cut some things out. We did go to the temple though! It was so good! I am trying to go the temple once a month at the LEAST, so I got my February trip just in time.

We got back to Charlotte and I had stake conference. Liz had done a lot of driving the past 48 hours, so she was tired. I didn't blame her when she decided to stay home while I went to my meetings. Then we didn't stay up as late this night but we were still very tired.

The next day we went to church, fed her some yummy roast, and she went back home. She has a big decision to make about graduate school but I think no matter where she goes we'll always be friends and I'll always have a reason to visit. :)

Six Months

I am someone who lives in the future. What is coming, what's next, how can I get there...and I don't appreciate the here and now. I've known this for a long time...since I started college I have been like this:
In high school..."I can't wait for college"
In college..."I can't wait for a mission"
On a mission...."I can't wait to finish college"
Finish college...."I can't wait to have a job"
Have a job..."I can't wait......"

And so it goes. It's not that I'm not happy right now. I am totally happy! :D I just get excited about planning things out but then forget to enjoy them. As I was talking to Valerie tonight I realized that I need to work on enjoying my here and now time. It's good to plan for the future but then let the plan unfold. Even if things are as I planned I still need to be patient with my life.

I'm learning patience with the children I look after, the people in traffic, my life moving in the direction I've envisioned. So my new motto is:

I can't live 6 months into the future. 

And I'm going to stop trying.

Happy Birthday Valerie!

The Story that Made Us Friends 

It was Valerie's first semester and my third at BYU-Idaho. We gathered together every week as a Family Home Evening group and didn't really become friends until the very end of the semester....the day that would go down in history. FIRST...a background story. It was around Thanksgiving and we decided to have a thanksgiving dinner for FHE. This is when I noticed that Valerie...had roomate problems. It was bad. Anything Valerie liked they decided to instantly hate. They even started a "I hate Josh Groban" list on their white board. I went and changed it to say "love", but they found me out. I asked Valerie about this  later and she kind of broke down. They were merciless, and for reasons unknown. My roommate at the time wanted to make soup with the turkey remains so Valerie brought it over one night. I was listening to Celine Dion and Josh Groban Christmas and doing my clean checks that I had forgotten about. Valerie walked in and didn't hesitate to lend me a hand! We belted the songs and cleaned...it was our moment we'd knew we'd be friends for a long time. I was in the process of selling my contract for my apartment so that I could move to a place called Nauvoo House. At the beginning of our cleaning/singing spree, I told her about this and suggested that she could move into my apartment. By the end of our session together...I said, "HEY...you should move in with me." She considered it and emailed me to let me know...it was a go! We hung out the last three weeks of that semester and then were roommates ever since. (Minus one semester that was difficult because communication was slim due to my mission) Since then she's come to be known as: Val (a name she despised before), Lala, Greenbean, ValerTheresa, and more.

First semester as roommates, see we didn't even have any pictures from before this because we really just became friends toward the end. (Winter 2008)

Second semester as roommates. (Fall 2008)

AND THEN I WENT ON A MISSION. She was a great pen pal...and had amazing insights that I needed. When I got back from my mission we weren't going to live together (due to communication) and I thought we'd just end up hanging out all the time when I got back to Idaho. BUT....

SHE SURPRISED ME AND VISITED ME IN NORTH CAROLINA!!!

We went around Charlotte, showing her where I grew up. We went to the Temple in South Carolina and visited an art museum. We stayed up all night catching up on our lives. It was like we never left. (Summer 2010)

We got back to Idaho and while we didn't live together...it was probably good for us both. We were so busy and stressed. I'd go over every Sunday and we'd talk, laugh, cry, or vent. It was our hour! 

Then we roomed together again and had the BEST semester ever, of course with great roommates. It was a great way to end our college time together! 

 This picture has been said to sum up our entire friendship...and it's true.
(Winter 2010)

 Classic Lala face!

Our semester was pretty much a domino effect of hilariousness. We'd start laughing about one thing and it just rolled into another. 

And so it will be forever...whenever we get together we will just fall right back into sync. When I was in Utah for my student teaching and went to visit Rexburg...it was like I never left.

 We really don't care what we look like, act like, or smell like! :P
(Fall 2011)

 We are ourselves true and true...it's one of the things I love most about our friendship.

Granola and Wheatgrass

Why are we so amazing? 

(Thanksgiving 2011)

Val...I love your passion for plants, that we searched for bugs in the Olive Garden garden, your "long story short"s, random dance parties that made everything better, your cooking, our weirdness that is accepted by each other for some reason, and all of our nicknames! 

Love, ATP

A Good Brake

Sometimes I astound myself with what my brain comes up with as I'm driving. It's generally when I'm by myself. Alone in my thoughts.

This came while I was driving in the car with my mom. Any time I drive my mom is still a little nervous. That's with any of us kids. I noticed that she didn't think I was going to stop in time for a car that was slowing down. Then I had this thought. 

Even though I knew I was going to stop and that my foot was on the brake even before she started worrying about the situation, she needed reassurance. So the next time I was slowing down I made sure to tap my brakes a little sooner for her comfort. 

I likend this to relationships of any sort, romantic or not. Sometimes we know that everything is fine, things are in control. But our friend, coworker, loved one; they don't know how we're feeling. They're not sure everything is okay. We have to give the relationship brakes a little tap for comfort. We just need to let them know that we are there for them from time to time. It just helped me to see that's why we surprise people in little ways; giving a present, a hug, a note, or an act of service....all of these are pressing the relationship brakes...letting them know we're still good.

Make Someone Happy Today,

Arica 

Children Ask the Wisest Things

There are some funny things that kids say and being at my job it's been one of my favorite things to report back to my family. But there are other times where they say something profound that you didn't know you needed to hear.

Tuesday

Mood: flustered

Health: Poor-coughing, sore throat, headache, dizziness, sniffles

In the middle of these two things I was taking care of 18 children. They take a daily nap where  the teachers can break each other and go get lunch. When I was about to leave, one of my cute little boys (2 and a 1/2) wakes up and says: 

"Miss Arica, are you happy?"

I stopped to think about it. In that moment I was not acting as if I was happy. I reflected on his question as I went to lunch and felt the sunshine on my face. I concluded that even though I didn't feel well I had plenty to be happy about. I started to count my blessings a little more and could answer with an honest, "Yes" to that little boy when he asked again later. I'm pretty sure Heavenly Father wanted to remind me of all that I have.