Thankful

Don't you just LOVE this time of year!!?? I mean what is so wrong with Christmas music, lights, trees, shopping, movies (yes Hallmark and Lifetime movies are a must!) and spending time with family!! I am always so excited to put up the Christmas tree and start making all the Christmas goodies! But don't you love how Thanksgiving is just before the Christmas holiday which helps me, at least, take a step back and really recognize how blessed I am. For Thanksgiving the family (well most of us- sorry Tiff and Kellan! We still love you!) traveled to Denver to visit Zac, Chelsea, and Gavin. It is always so great to see them and is always so hard to leave! I'm sure a couple of tears were shed as we left this morning. Gavin is such a hoot as are Zac and Chels! It just cracks me up to see Gavin running at me yelling "Ada, Ada, Ada!" The first night we got there it was a very calm night. Which was great seeing as how we woke up at 4 that morning to leave. Dad wanted to leave the night before and drive through the night but I vetoed that rather quickly! On Thanksgiving day we went to the park with Gavin seeing as how it was so warm (in the 70s! I seriously was not ready to come back to the cold!). After the park we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner/lunch! We were all stuffed!!! That night Chelsea and I went shopping!!! Yes...there were TONS of people but we got some amazing deals and I LOVE Denver shopping! It was so great! The next day we convinced the boys to go do a little shopping with us which didn't take much convincing seeing as how Zac and Chels were looking at getting Gavin a "big boy bed". And for the men they knew what that ment- some assembly required. Its a guy thing I guess. The events in the days following included: a tour of a candy factory, food, and more shopping! We went to the BEST mall in downtown Denver while the men went to a hockey game. It was kind of like Gateway in Salt Lake but bigger and reminded me of New York (Not that I have been there but in my dreams that is what is looks like...one day I will go!!)

Anyways...I just LOVE that I am blessed with such a wonderful, crazy family! It's always an adventure! We do have so much to be thankful for! I am grateful for Dad's willingness to make pit stops along the way, for Gavin's excitement for Woody and Buzz (sidenote- Shouldn't we all be more like little kids! How great are they!?! So excited about everything...Gavin would run from one side of the balcony to the other and would yell "I win!" Or he would lose a game and all he would say was "Oh no!" but that didn't stop him from playing again so he could win.) I'm grateful for the gospel and the opportunity I have to be with my family forever! For the testimony I have been so blessed with! It's just so great!

But I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well! I love you all!

Oh and I tried to post pictures but seeing as how it takes forever for them to download I gave up after a day and a half waiting (no joke...they still weren't done when I got home from work today!)

Life is GREAT!

Alright friends and family....I figure its about time I post something. It has been quite a while since my last post so I figure its about time. So the happenings of the past little while...where to start....

Nancy & John family at Courtney's wedding! So much fun! 

1) Family is always number one. I seriously have the best family! My favorite time of the year is October when I get to see most all of the Warner side. Nancy and John came for almost a week at the end of September which is always a treat! I never laugh so hard! A couple things I will never forget will include Nancy leaning over to me at Keith and Pam's house while the men were at the Priesthood session of conference. I won't repeat what she said unfortunately (I would hate to embarrass Nancy) but lets just say I think I lost a ton of calories from laughing so hard! The next item will have to be listening it Aunt Mary Jane's funeral services. I am preparing a lesson for Relief Society and wanted to listen to it in preparation for it and also I have never heard the whole thing in its entirety. Family, if you haven't listened to it for a while please do! Each and every talk is so beautiful and Mary Jane's testimony is AMAZING! Sure do love our family!!!

Family photo! We all wished Zac and his family were there! Love you guys! 

2) Work is going GREAT! As I finished up with a client today my thoughts as I was driving back to my office were how blessed I was to have such an amazing job with such amazing people both those I get to work with and for but also those people I come in contact with that let me a part of their lives to capture these moments for them. One thing that really hit me was when Nic told me of a student in his grade that committed suicide and I remembered I took his senior pictures less than a month before. My boss talked to me that next day and said when stuff like that happens it really hits him that he was the last one to take their photo. I was shocked to see one of my photos as his obituary photo. We never know how much of an impact we have on others lives. I have learned this past month that we really need to watch what we say and how we act to others. We never know how it will affect them no matter who it is.

I know...I'm so photogenic! 

3) Well the apartment search is on! It is time for me to move out of my parents house and live on my own! I am so EXCITED for this next step. I am hoping just to get a small one bedroom apartment and live on my own. Most people look at me like I am crazy not to want a roommate but I couldn't be more thrilled about it! So if any of you are wanting to get rid of furniture or any house hold items PLEASE don't throw them out! Ask me first!! It would be greatly appreciated!

4) I can't wait for the Holidays (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and of course Christmas!) This is my favorite time of year!! I am so excited because we will be going to Denver for Thanksgiving. I LOVE Denver and it will be so exciting to see Zac, Chels, and Gavin but also be able to get out of Idaho! But to make things even better Zac, Chels and Gavin will be coming to Idaho for Christmas! I don't think the holidays could come soon enough! Everything is always so great around the holidays! :)

Aparenty my tongue wouldn't stay in my mouth and Kellan was either sleepy or angry with me.  :)

Such a fun vacation to Utah! Holly and I rocked at the paddle boats! So relaxing just floating around the pond!  

Well that is it for me today! Life is GREAT! Busy as ever but I love it! I love being busy and feeling productive with my days! I hope you all are doing great! Until next time dear friends!

What Amanda does on her day off from work....

So it is very rare that I get a day to just chill and not worry about anything. I told my mom last night not to judge me if I slept in and even after the sleeping in I would just go to the bathroom and then go back to bed. She said that would be okay and she wouldn't even think about it. So this morning I slept in till ten came up stairs and she said good morning...my response to her was "Nope, I'm not here I'm still sleeping." That reminded her that I was just going to the bathroom and then going back to bed. After that I slept for probably another hour and a half. Got up took a nice long bath...which was heavenly!!! Then I started laundry and made my way to the couch. Now on to the main reason of my blog post...Hallmark movies! I have watched maybe 3 or 4 Hallmark movies today and I have mixed feelings about them. Now I love the movies that I watched today but I feel like they almost give girls false hope. I mean I have had relationships but none of them are ever like that. Now you would think guys would get the hint that there are reasons as to why girls love chick flicks so much. I'm sure all you married folk get the mushy stuff constantly but as for me and all my singleness I see throughout the day...its rather depressing after you watch movies like this. I understand that men out there are in their own world and that the men in the movies are really just for eye candy, now don't get me wrong I LOVE the eye candy. BUT there has got to be more, right?? But what do I know...I'm 24 and still single so I obviously haven't gotten it right. I guess for now I will just continue to watch Hallmark movies and cry when the guy does something so sweet. Why oh why do chick flicks hurt us but cause us so much hope???? Any thoughts on this ladies out there????

Sorry no pictures today!!!

The goings on....

So I don't really have much to say but I always like it when there is a new blog post to look at so I figure all you other bloggers feel the same. I guess I can update you on the new on-goings in the wonderful world of Amanda...

1) Say goodbye to the white Thunderbird and Grandpa Warner's blue pickup. Yes it is true! They are gone! It is really bitter sweet! When I got my car no one drove the Thunderbird any more so Nic traded both the white car and the blue pick up in for a new car! Its all so exciting but I know we will miss them! They were great reliable cars! Now on to our foreign cars! I now have a Volvo S40 and Nic now has a Audi A8. They are very fancy compared to the cars we were driving before. Fancy meaning they have AC and heat and all the windows roll up and down. It is definitely a change and something that has taken some getting used to! I had to take my car in to get it worked on and it cost a little more than I was hoping but it is nice to have it back and running wonderfully! (I will post pictures when I am a little more patient. Sorry but it can take forever!!!! I need a little more caffeine in me if I want to wait for that to post. I tried though...its the thought that counts!)

2) Work is going great! Its my super crazy insanely busy time of year! I get to see about 1700 students in the time period between about last week of June till about the end of August (okay I am hoping to be done taking their pictures by the end of August but it is a very optimistic goal!) All seniors from all four high schools in Idaho Falls come and get a senior photo taken for the year book. Some just come to get that photo taken so that they can have one for their yearbook and others come and do a complete sitting with me. Oh the stories I could tell about the experiences I have had already this year. Stories ranging from a 80 year old man asking me to go get a slice of bread with him at Great Harvest to seeing a black girl fight to getting scared in my office late at night. I tell ya I laugh at the stories after but while they are happening I get the giggles (which is what happens when I get really scared!) But I have been working like crazy (about 50 hours a week- give or take a few depending on the week). I love being busy and having some where to be. Although I have had this weekend off - which means I didn't have to work saturday and it has been extremely wonderful!

3) I went crawdad fishing! Yes it is true - I went fishing! A group of my friends went and we had the best time! I know none of you will believe it but you should! Pictures were taken although I do not have them. My friend took them with her camera, but as soon as I get them they will be posted! On our little fishing excursion I was a tad bit nervous for a couple of reasons. 1- I don't do well with animals and water. 2- You have to go when it is dark and that kind of freaks me out. and 3- It just sounded weird- crawdads! Ha ha! Anyways...I ended up catching 4!!!! It was fantastic! Now mind you that everyone else that was there probably caught like 10 but even then I was so proud of my 4! We had half a bucket full by the end of the night! It was great!!! We are going again tomorrow night so we will see how well I do! I'm shooting to catch 5 but I am aiming high I know! :)

Well friends...I don't have much else to say! Nothing to huge going on here! I hope you all are well!!! Love you all! Until we meet again!!!

It is my birthday.

I figured I should post on the birthday festivities of the week! It was a great/busy week! Birthday fun started on Thursday night when some friends and I went to my favorite sushi restaurant Blue Hashi. LOVE IT!!! I had friday and saturday off of work so I just laid around-which was greatly needed and enjoyed. Friday I didn't do much so it was good but weird at the same time. I am so used to going to work everyday and always having something to do. Anyways...on saturday I woke up and went to work. Ha ha! Only for like 20 minutes. I needed to go help a co-worker set up his equipment. It wasn't that big of a deal. After that mom and dad took me to breakfast at I-Hop then we went shopping. A friend and I will be moving into an apartment here in a couple of months so I need furniture so we went looking for that. I am also in search of a car so we went to a couple of dealerships...all in all we found NOTHING!!! I'm a very picky shopper. After that we headed home where Tiff and Kellan met up with us. Nic was at work so we waited until he got done then went to Wal-mart and everyone had 3 dollars to buy me a gift. Ha ha! I loved it!!! After that we headed home trying to decide what kind of game we can play in the process of giving of the gifts. So of course the game we decided on was beer pong (No beer was provided in the playing of this game.) Anyways we actually just played and then I opened the gifts so our plan didn't work but I did have to guess who gave me which gift. Dad got me some drinking glasses (mostly because I only drink out of glass cups), Mom got me some crackers and gum (two of my favorite things when I was younger I suppose), Tiffany bought me some silly glasses (pictures to come), Kell got me some bubbles (I guess he thinks I am pretty bubbly), and Nic got me some Diet Coke (MY FAVORITE) and pringles. It was so much fun! I loved it! Then it was time for dinner and we had those pulled pork sweet tacos we had the night before Tiff and Kellan's wedding because I LOVED THEM!!! So good!!! After that we watched Mega Mind-HILARIOUS movie! While we watched the movie two of my good friends from the singles branch came over and of course we played more beer pong. Thats about it! It was a great birthday! Thank you everyone for the well wishes, phone calls, text messages, and gifts!!! Love you all!!!

(Pictures will come later....I'm not in the mood to download....sorry!!!)

The best thing about the future is that is comes one day at a time. -Abraham Lincoln

I don't really know if I have that much to say but I know it has been awhile since I have last posted. It is probably driving Nancy crazy! For that I apologize. Lets see what has happened since last post. Tiff and Kellan got married. Thats pretty great! It was a really nice day and the sealing was beautiful. I know some of the Barrus side was pretty surprised I was in the temple so I guess I should re-announce that I did receive my endowments on January 8th of this year. Just in case some of you might not have known that. Going through the temple then at that time in my life has truly been a blessing. I definitely know it was the right time for me.

Other than that things are going good. Just staying busy with work which I love and am truly grateful for. I am amazed at how much the gospel is apart of each one of our lives differently. Most all of the people (actually I think everyone) at the office are members of the church but all with different activity levels. I was sitting at a high school dance the other night talking with the co-worker I was with and we were talking about how we handle our trials. Do we turn to the Lord when times get hard or do we blame him? She is semi-active and she shared with me the hurt she had after one trial and where the blame got placed. It just made me think do I control my trials or do my trials control me? Am I accepting them and moving forward by turning closer to the Lord or am I just focused on the bad and blaming Him? Everyone is different in how we act towards them but is that the right way to act? I guess its just a lot of things to consider when things happen to us but it is ultimately our choice. As we continued talking my thought process changed a little bit and I thought about the impact people have on our lives. We all go through trials and really we are all here to help one another through them. I am amazed at those that come and go into our lives during certain times of our lives. If that makes any sense at all. I look back at some of my trials in my life and think I don't know how I could have done it with out him/her helping me through it. Thats when you see the Lords hand in all things. Anyways...I could continue on because I have been thinking about it for a while but I won't bore you.

I wish I had some pictures to post but I do not. Sorry about that....I will do better next time. I hope all of you are well and staying out of trouble. Love you all!!!

Welp....

So friends and family....I'm here again. I just have to laugh at myself sometimes. Its just so funny some of the things that go on throughout my day. Work can be extremely stressful but we always come out of our days with flying colors and most of the time we laugh at the end of it. I feel truly blessed with the job that I have. The people I work with are great and it is definitely never a dull moment around the office. From laughing about tire flaps getting ripped off and me getting blamed for it (which I didn't do no matter what they tell you!!!) to the funny kids and what they say. I am always so touched when a special needs student comes up and gives me a hug before or after I take their picture. Now if any of you know me at all you know I cry at anything....TV shows, tender moments, laughing to hard, etc. It always puts a tear to my eye when I get those kinds of students. Or the kids that look up at me and say "Do you like my shirt?" or "Do I look good today?" And the smiles they get when I say "I love your shirt!" or "You look great bud!" Guess I am just an emotional person. Those moments definitely make the early mornings worth it. I truly LOVE my job and the people I get to work with. I still learn more about service every day. I hope that that lesson never stops. Its so great to be able to help people wether it be my bosses or the clients I associate with. Its so great!

So...I HATE the snow! I am so ready for it to be done! I just want it to be warm and to be able to drive on the road with it not being slick. I am just so excited for the summer! Its going to be wonderful!!!! I can just feel it! Well I hope you all are well and life is grand! Until next time!!! :)

Lessons learned....

Alright those of you who actually read my blog (I looked to see how many views it had and there was only 39-I bet 37 of those are from me!) But thats okay I guess...I write a lot of this stuff just to do something. So this week has had a lot of learning involved.

1-Make time for service. It doesn't matter who it is or what it is but do it. A lot of the people I work with stress about a lot of things. I try and have tried since I started working there to always ask if others need help with anything. If I can make their lives a bit easier then things in my life will go a bit easier. Its all about helping others so that their lives can change for the better.

2-Along with service remember to always do what is most important. I think sometimes we have a hard time deciding between right and right. Both choices might be the right choice but which is the better of the right. Today really showed me that. With things that have happened recently I have come to realize that I did what I thought was best for the situation. Although some might not agree with the way I handled it or am still handling it I wouldn't change my decision. I had two rights placed before me and I chose the one I thought would not only help myself but more importantly help others. Now pretty much all of you that are reading this are wondering what in the world is Amanda talking about. But don't fret...nothings wrong...I'm fine and things are great! Just the interesting life of a single LDS women. Most of you wouldn't understand.

3-Things happen for reasons we may not know. But its because of those experiences that make us who we are or make us better then we thought we could be. They may even be the smallest tiniest little thing but they define who we are. Its just so great to know that we agreed to all of this. Everything we go through we said yes to before we came here. I think that thought just makes our trials not so hard to bear. Its like "Amanda just suck it up. You agreed to this." and we push through. Life isn't so bad everyone!!! Yes...trials are horrible and not fun to go through but what kind of person would we be without those experiences. I would say you would probably rather boring. Plus I look at my trials and I look at the trials that others go through and my trials seem so lame. I really have nothing to complain about. My life could be so much harder.

So those are just some of the things that I have been taught this week and it is only Tuesday. Who knows what else is in store for me. My life is definitely an adventure. Lets see...single...I really can do whatever I want. I work constantly, which I LOVE!!! On my days off I kind of go crazy finding things to do around the house or something. I would much rather be at work knowing I am accomplishing something. I love helping people! Well...I will stop talking now...I know all of you are loving my little well not so little comments. Most of you probably haven't made it to the end and if you have then props to you! This is a rather lengthy post! I guess I just had a lot to say! Well I love you all!!! Remember who you are!!!!

P.S. I just have to put a picture on here so people will be curious as to what I am actually talking about and might actually read my post. So with that said I will put a picture of Gavin up. I am missing him like CRAZY and can't wait for the wedding so we can all be together again! LOVE YOU KID!!!!

Here you go blog...this is a post!

Hello. My day has come and gone and boy am I sleepy. But the cheeseburger I ate this evening was spectacular. My heart is full as is my stomach. Some of you may wonder what my favorite food is. Well I will tell you a little secret. Its a cheeseburger. If I was to die tomorrow and I knew that my last meal was a cheeseburger I would be a happy camper although I hate camping so I hope I don't die tomorrow.
Everyday I get up and take pictures of a bunch of strangers. They all seem to like me because they smile at me all day long. I must look good every single day.

I am missing someone right now. His name is little baby Gavin. I wish he was here because I don't want him to forget about me. I spent some time with him a little while ago and I sure did love that time we had together. I miss him so much! But he will be here soon for Tiff and Kellan's wedding! So that makes me happy! But until them I will continue to miss him like crazy!!!!!! Boy I love that kid!

We went to Jesse and Roxy's wedding on Saturday and they had a photo booth at their wedding. I just have to share the pictures we took at it! They sure make me smile! :) Well I love you all!!! Until we meet again!!!

I love to see the temple...

Today was a BIG day and I couldn't have asked for it to have gone better than it did! I received my endowments this morning and it was FANTASTIC! I am so appreciative of all those who were able to come and support me! Thank you Nancy and John for making the trip to Idaho for it! Also all of those that weren't there but I do know they were thinking about me on this day! I'm just so happy with the amazing family I am blessed with!! I can't say thank you enough!! I love you all!!!

Oh the good times....

 Alright fellow friends! I'm back! I don't think I have posted in a while but don't you fret! There is lots to talk about now! I didn't post any pictures from my Denver trip but here are some that I think you will enjoy because the only pictures I took were of Gavin and we all know how cute of a kid he is!!!

Alright...now you can all comment on how cute he is because it is so true!!! So as soon as I got back from Denver we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Lee's family! Its always so great to see them! Gavin loved to watch Ben and Steve play on their phones he wanted in on the action. He just climbed right up on Ben's lap to watch.

The next day we went and did family pictures and you already saw all of those pictures. It was nice to get those taken. But we had a great Christmas with all those in attendance. Gpa and Gma Barrus came and we sure did get the giggles with them. They were so fun to watch do Minute to Win it games. Grandpa just wanted to cheat I think. We woke up later then we ever had before and enjoyed a calm Christmas. The boys were so excited about the new pool table! Its so fun! I am very good at it. That afternoon our next door neighbors came over for dinner and their youngest son was the cutest! He loved to get his picture taken so here he is! Such a doll!