2 Year Reflection

Today marks the 2 year anniversary of my Dad's death. So much has happened in that time...I went to Taiwan for the 2nd time; the birth of two nieces (granddaughters); Ben started a new job; Nathan started a new job; Kyle, Nathan, Sallee, Claire all moved to California; we sold the house in Oregon; Mom moved to Utah; Joel completed his doctorate; Joel, Becky, Aubrey moved to Boston; Joel started a new job at Harvard; Erick started a new job; plus many, many more.

Many of those things have been exciting, scary, fun, hard, sad, etc. changes. Some we have looked forward to and others we have dragged our feet all the way.

These last two years have been great, full of fun and new adventures and at the same time they have been two of the hardest years that I have ever lived through.

We got family pictures taken at Christmas and my Mom and I were talking the other day about my wanting to get some printed to put in my frames for my wall, but my Mom pointed out that I didn't want to replace all of the pictures because than I wouldn't have any with my Dad in them.

Sometimes it's hard to think about that in all of the future family pictures he won't be in them, he won't be part of the family vacations, when I find my future spouse he won't be there to give him a hard time or to be part of my wedding day, and when more grandchildren come he won't get to meet them. But then I think about the grand picture, he is part of all these events, I may not be able to see him but I know that he is watching.

I miss my Dad and I don't think there will ever be a time that I don't miss him, but I am grateful for him, the things that he has taught me (and continues to teach me) and that I know that I will be with him again. I'm grateful that I have the pictures to remind me of the memories but even more grateful that I have the memories.

I know this may sound a little dorky or cheesy (yes it is Miley Cyrus), but I love this song, every time I hear it I think of my Dad. I think that it describes him so well (besides the part about having to do it on his own)...he was always there for me, ready to help, love, teach, share, serve, anything that was needed.

A Time For Thanks

If you have the time you should take a couple of minutes to watch this beautiful clip...I've already watched it twice this afternoon and cried both times. I look forward to watching the whole documentary in November when it is released. I'm extremely grateful for those that have served in the past, that are currently serving and for those that will serve in the future. I have many freedoms in my life, many of which I don't even realize and I know that many of them come because of the willingness of those who serve in the different military functions.

Thank you to those who have willingly stepped forward to protect my life, my freedom, and my country!

Bye-Bye Bushes

I think no matter where you live there will always be things that you like about your house and area and there will be other things that you wont like quite as much. One of the things at the new house that my Mom and I have never been a big fan of is a line of bushes that lead up to our house. We kind of felt like it we were in-prisoned and that it cut off the yard a bit. Last week Libbey came down and helped Mom pull out one side of the bushes (Sonia rescued them and moved them to their house where it looks awesome!). I came home from work at the tale end of their working on it but I was able to snag some pictures of them hard at work.

Jacob told me all about how they were gardening and about all the bugs that they had found. Mom has already had many compliments from neighbors and others in the ward about how nice the house is looking without the bushes. Mom already likes it better without them but I think it always makes her feel a little bit better when others think it looks nice too. Yesterday Mom also planted a bunch of beautiful flowers in the front...I love how nice it is looking!

Diaper Cake

Friday morning I with some other friends helped throw a baby shower for our friend Andrea. I've wanted to make a diaper cake for a really long time, we had talked about doing it as a group but decided to not. I was at the store trying to decide what I wanted to get her when I saw the diapers and decided that I still wanted to make one (I do not get very many opportunities to make them and really wanted to do it!). I think for my first time it came out pretty cute!

Cuteness!

Two Sunday's ago (Mother's Day) we had our quarterly Williams family (my Mom's side) dinner, it was so much fun. There was lots of people and many conversations spread throughout the house and evening. I loved having close and extended family all together. There were lots of adults but what made the evening extra special was getting to look at these cute faces!

Cold Shoulder

Mom and I thought that it looked so warm outside with the sun-shining on the backyard and deck so decided that we would have our dinner outside, as soon as we got everything set up we realized that it wasn't quite as warm as we had thought. We ate quickly but as soon as the wind came we grabbed everything and went back inside. We decided that we are looking to getting to eat outside this summer but that we can wait until it is really warm enough to do so :)

A Torn Page

I tore a book the other night...you should try it, it's kind of exhilarating! (not suggested with your favorite books)

Which Way Did It Go?

I thought it was windy Tuesday but didn't realize it was that bad until I looked outside the kitchen door and didn't see the table, chairs, and umbrella that were supposed to be out there. I had to investigate, so I opened the door and this is what I found...

Hatching Eggs

Mom put eggs in the tree up front for Easter, she got lots of compliments on it and it looked really pretty. When it came time to take them down I received the responsibility for cutting them down (I'm taller I guess that's why I won that)...and apparently Mom got the job of photographer. There were many people disappointed to see them down so I think Mom looks forward to putting them up again next year.

Fun Center

You may have wondered what has been keeping me away from my ever faithful blog... Trafalga: Fun Center of course! I am so lucky to have gotten a job before I even moved home, I'm getting pretty decent hours and money to go into the savings for school (plus it being not too far from Mom's doesn't hurt either).
I wasn't too sure if I was going to get this job or not, after I had turned in my resume and application I received a phone call asking if I could come in for an interview (while I was on my way to Oregon fro Leah and Jamie's wedding)--I was afraid that me not being in town was going to go against my chances. I called as soon as I got back and didn't hear anything for another week, but than I was asked to come in for an interview (YEAH!), it was the most relaxed that I have ever been in an interview and I thought that it had gone pretty good, but I was told that I would hear back by the end of the week. Nothing happened :( After a week and a half had passed Libbey told me that I just needed to call her and check what was going on. I was told that they had just hired a bunch of people and were waiting until the next week to hire another group, that my name was "on hold" and that I would hear back by the end of the week for sure (I really wasn't sure what that meant but hoped that it was good considering that she didn't just straight out tell me that I wasn't hired).
Wednesday of Utah Counties spring break I was making dinner at my apartment with Brea when my phone rang, I looked down and saw that it was Trafalga, I quickly grabbed my phone and went into my room. They asked if I was still interested in a job and told me that they wanted to hire me (I think my heart might have stopped right there from excitement), I quickly asked her questions on what I should be wearing, when to come, where to come, etc. She asked if I could start that day or the next day, because I was in the middle of making dinner and it was already nearly 5 o'clock I asked if the next day would be ok, she said that it was fine as it was kind of last minute.
I went in on Friday (0f Spring Break!!) and filled out paperwork, was shown around a little bit and then immediately thrown into doing stuff--it was a little crazy at first because it was spring break but I think that it's always better to train in the middle of a rush partly because than you immediately know how to work quickly and efficiently.



It has already been an adventure (a fun one!). My 2nd day of working someone asked me if I was single (wasn't sure if they were serious or not so chose to ignore that) and was kicked/hit by a little girl that was having a temper-tantrum on the ground outside the airplane ride when her sister chose to get in another airplane. The 2nd day I also got put in the kitchen (good thing I love cooking and have had some experience in kitchens/concessions before), it started off a little slow which was good because than I could learn what we served and how to make them but then it very quickly jumped up to the point where we needed 8 whole pizzas made at one time...luckily someone else came and took over for me than and I got sent on break.
Some other exciting/strange happenings from this job:
I got to vacuum with a backpack vacuum, if ever there was a time to feel like a ghostbuster that was it--though it was a little heavy so not the most fun to be carrying up and down the stairs. I have vacuumed and washed glass (mostly windows/doors) more in the last two weeks than I have ever in my life, I'm working on getting my left arm stronger but so far most of it has been done with the right.
During my 2nd week the fog machine in laser tag didn't stop when it was supposed to so it completely filled up the laser tag room- setting off the fire alarms. We had to evacuate the whole building and stood outside for probably close to 20/25 minutes while we waited for the fire department to come and to declare it safe to return inside. On one hand it's nice to know that the fire alarms are working but kind of annoying as I guess it had been like the 3rd time to happen in the past couple of weeks--I guess we are not working on getting a different ventilation system so it won't happen again (or at least not as much).
This lady insisted that she had seen me the previous day at all of these different stores when in reality I had had the day off and stayed home all day in my pajamas reading and being lazy. She wouldn't give it up either when I told her that I hadn't gone anywhere--kind of annoying and strange. (what's even stranger was that she was the 3rd person in a week to tell me that they were sure that they had seen me somewhere. So apparently I have many clones out there sharing the goodness of Beth :D)
I already thought that this was going to be a fun job but it got even cooler/fun when I discovered that I get a free Pass of All Passes, it actually works as my ID for work...I'm excited and can't wait to go to Seven Peaks with my roommates on my days off (when it get's nice outside that is).
The first day when I had to answer the phone I was a little nervous about having to do that, I was afraid that I wouldn't know the answers when people asked them and that it would reflect badly on the business, but luckily I haven't had to answer any extremely difficult questions yet and people have been really nice at helping me and answering any questions that I may have. One day I was up front when I got a phone call, it was really noisy and so I struggled to hear at first but I finally understood what the lady was saying. It was actually an agency that was calling, people that are deaf or cannot speak call this agency through their phones and then the agency calls whomever they need to "talk" to. The person calling types what they need to say/ask and then the agency relays that to me, I answer and then she responds back to the person via the computer. It was a really neat experience, it made me even more grateful that I can speak and hear but also that there are people out there who have made the opportunities available for those that cannot.

There have been many other experiences--good and bad even in these 3 weeks of work. I'm glad that I have this job, the people that I work with are so much fun and entertaining and most of the time I don't even feel like I am working. I feel like if I have a question or idea already that people will listen to them and consider if they will work or not. This is not somewhere that I would like to be for the rest of my life but it is a great fun job for now!

Train Travel

I can't believe that I have been away from the blogging world so long (well actually I've been over at Food on My Plate blogging...check it out!)! Hopefully though I'm getting my schedule and life a little more figured out so I can start being more consistent in my blogging.

I was going through my closet last week when at the bottom I found my Taiwan version of Monopoly that I had bought my first time I went--still unopened (sadly) and decided that I really wanted to play it. I convinced Mom to join in with me and it's been a fun little walk down memory lane.





I love that there are so many places that I've heard of but at the same time there are so many new places that I would love to discover in Taiwan. And how there is Chinese and English on everything! I'm someone that loves Monopoly and combining it with Taiwan makes it a win-win!