Isn't it amazing how much everything can change in your life in such a small amount of time? I was thinking about just deleting everything on this blog and starting a new one because I can't believe how stupid I was about Paul and what I wrote about him. But then I started thinking that even though I totally think it is stupid now, I really believed that he was who he said he was then. Let me just say now that I am soooo lucky that it didn't work out with us. He is not anything that he said he was and my dad knew a lot more than I gave him credit for. So I guess I am going to keep this one because even though I may not like it, my past is my past and that is just how it is.

I feel like I have learned so much in the past year. I don't even know where to begin. I can see the hand of the Lord in my life everyday. When I finally decided to just give my life over to Him and let Him take control my life has turned almost 180 degrees. I would not beable to do school without Him. There is no way I would pass the classes. And now that I am getting close to graduating I am just seeing all of these opportunities open up in front of me. More blessings than I can even number. One of the blessings is the chance that I will have to do my preceptorship in the Neuro Trauma Unit at Primary Childrens Medical Center. I was so worried that I would only be able to do med surg at some hospital I hated. But the Lord knows me and knows where he wants me to be. I know it will probably be a sad area to work in but I am so excited to be able to have the experience that I am going to have learning from incredible nurses and meeting some incredible children.

Now for the future. I am so excited to graduate I can hardly stand it!!! I graduate on December ninth and my little brother gets home from his mission the next day. I can hardly wait. I think once I graduate I really want to focus my extra time on doing service missions in countries like Africa and Haiti that need so much help medically. I want to go to South America and work in their orphanges. I want to travel the world and help in any way that I can. I am really excited and I hope that I will have the time and money to be able to accomplish some of this stuff. I also am excited just to travel to some fun places. Like Europe or Greece or somewhere fun. I woudln't beable to do any of this without the Lord in my life. I am so grateful for all that I have.

I just wanted to post because I feel like I am a different person. I just feel like my views in life are different and the things that I thought I needed in my life are things that I can totally live without. Especially right now when the Lord is giving me so many opportunities. There are still moments that I want to be married and have kids but after learning all of the things I have this past year I know that it will happen when it is supposed to. Right now I am looking more forward to serving other people and moving out on my own and making me a better person. These are things that I wouldn't be able to do if I were married and have kids. People always used to tell me that you learn so much between the ages of 20 and 25 and you change so much. So you shouldn't even get married until later. I never believed them. But now I couldn't agree more. There are experiences that I would have never had if things had worked out the way I had planned them in high school (be married by 21, start kids at 22 and have six of them by the time i was 30. WHAT?) ya that is pretty much why the Lord is in charge. Thank heaven.

Tales of Grandpa Carter

K so I know it has been a super long time since the last time I updated but I have been a super busy girl. So this will probably be a long post just so I can catch up. First of all I graduated with my LPN!!! YAY!!! I am officially a nurse but it doesn't really feel like it because I am still going to school for my RN. It will be nice to be done though in December. It is just going to be a pretty crappy summer being in class all the time. Whadda ya do? eh?

Second, there really isn't a second. HAHAHA that is funny. My life is school. How depressing is that? :) Pretty much the reason I wanted to blog today is because I had one of the best nights last night with my dad that I have ever had. And you know what we did? He just sat and talked to me about what his life was like growing up. HE told me all of these stories about him and my grandpa that I didn't even know. First of all it is so funny. My grandpa Carter grew up down in santaquin and he had a goat that LOVED chewing tobacco! Isn't that hilarious? Every time my grandpa grandpa (great grandpa) Carter would drive up the goat would see the car and come runnin. My grandpa grandpa would put chewin tobacco in the goats cheek and off he would go.

He told me another story about a time that my grandpa and dad were fishin and grandpa got into a little tiff with some guy that was on the bank and it escalated until my grandpa stood up in the boat and grabbed an oar. My dad thought he was gonna hit the guy with it. As soon as my grandpa stood up the guy shut up. Thats right!! Don't mess with us Carters! That was another thing. He told me that all the Carters knew how to stand up for themselves and you always wanted them on your side.

One time my grandpa was hunting after hours and this park ranger caught him. Well grandpa was huntin with his dads gun and the park ranger took it away. Well grandpa had to go home and tell his dad that he didn't have his gun. Instead of gettin in trouble, my grandpa grandpa Carter went down to that park ranger and gave him a piece of his mind and got his gun back.

One day my dad went hunting with my great grandpa and some guy shot towards my dad and hit him in the neck. My dad started bleeding and my great grandpa walked right over to that guy and gave him scotch blessing. He was hoppin mad at that other hunter. Dad told me Grandpa grandpa carter was a man of his own. He liked to cuss and drink and he wasn't gonna change for no one.

My great grandpa was a trapper. He would go trappen and get drunker than a skunk. In fact he liked to drink so much that my great grandma Eva would watch for him to come home and go and find his alcohol. When he was in the barn or shed skinnin his treasure, she would put some stuff in his drink that would make him throw up when he wasn't lookin. So he would just be sicker than a dog. "Oh Hell my stomach hurts, I must be comin down with the flu, I didn't know if I was even gonna make it outta bed today" he would say. To his dyin day he never caught on to what was happenin. He just always drank his alcohol.

My dad would go fishin with my grandpa and great grandpa a lot. My dads cousin Norman would also go with them. Well norman was a little trouble maker teen. Grandpa grandpa carter would always have his six pack of beer with him on the boat and when he wasn't lookin, Norman would shake up one of those cans and then offer it to my great grandpa. He would open up that can and it would go everywhere. Oh it made him so mad. On time on the way home from fishin, Norman was drivin grandpa grandpa carter crazy so he made him go sit in the back of the truck. Well Norman didn't want to do that so he stood up in the back and would bang his hands on the hood of the car the whole way down strawberry canyon until they pulled over. Grandpa would be so mad that he would go chasin after him but norman was too fast.

These little tricks run in the family. There was a time when My grandpa was out in the desert with his dad and his brother. Well he thought it would be funny to fill up their sleepin bags with sand. So he filled up their boots with it and then dumped it in there bags. He got in his sleepin bag before they did and pretended like he was asleep. Well when the other two went to bed the fireworks started and my grandpa was runnin for his life across the desert in his underware. HAHAHA I laughed so hard.

Well this is probably enough stories for today. There are more that I want to write down just so we have record of it. I don't know if some of these stories are even written down anywhere so I will probably write some more down again later.

Eye to Eye

So I had one of the most incredible experiences of my life last night. I was asked to go to Salt Lake and do a temp. recording at the conference center for a new movie that the church is doing to explain the Joseph Smith story better to non members. There were 5 of us all together and we worked with John Garbettwho is producing the show. He also helped produce the movie "The Other Side of Heaven".

We got there and it was the first time I had been in an actual recording studio. Ya know the ones where you wear the head phones and the mic comes down in front of your face and you can see the sound guy through the little window. Ya. I was there! (and we took pictures I just don't have them yet.) Anyway. The song we were asked to do was "The Spirit of God." Now the story in the movie goes like this. The year after Joseph and Hyrum were martyred, the members of the church were having a conference in the Nauvoo temple. Lucy Mack Smith (Joseph and Hyrum's mother) asked Brigham Young if she could speak to the congregation. So she got up and spoke for 1 hour. This is the point in the movie where Lucy is going to narrate the story of her son. At the end of her talk, one man stands up in the congregation and starts singing "The Spirit of God". Gradually more and more people come into the song until the entire congregation is singing. This is where we came in. We all recorded solos. I sang the melody twice, the alto part, and then the tenor part one octave higher. After we were all done, the sound guy worked his magic and just started adding us all into the song until out of 5 of us there was a 20 something person choir. It was incredible to hear. They are making me a CD so I can have it and then they are showing the movie to the first presidency to see if it will pass. Now MY Prophet, the Prophet of God, the Prophet of the entire church is going to hear my voice. (He won't know it is me but ya know....) the point is, I may never be able to bear my testimony in front of the Prophet, but I feel like in a way I was able to do it through this and let him know how much I love my Savior.

After we were finished we went into the assembly room in the conference center (ya know the really big room that holds like 21,000 people) and Vaughn told us just some little tid bits of information about the conference center. First of all, have you ever noticed that there are not any pillars in that room? Everything is suspended from the ceiling. Well in the scriptures, it says something to the affect of that when Christ comes, we will be able to see him eye to eye. In that room, no matter where you are sitting, you can look at the speaker directly and see him or her. There is nothing in your way. You are eye to eye. The second thing is that there is a large empty "room" or "space" underneath the stage area and the podium. Well the podium, when it is not being used, can descend down into the floor. On the podium there are some hooks and in the room underneath there are a bunch of different hooks all a long the wall. They are there to hold the wiring to satellites and broadcasting equipment. They have never been used because there are satellites on top of the conference center. The reason they were put where they are is because when Christ comes, He will need to speak to the entire world. We are going to need to set up every satellite and broadcasting network possible so that the world can see him and know he has come no matter where they are at on this earth. Pretty incredible huh?

I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I KNOW that Joseph Smith was a prophet of GOD and restored the church back on this earth. I KNOW that Joseph Smith saw God and his Son in a grove a trees behind his house when he was 14. I KNOW President Thomas S. Monson is the prophet that has been called of GOD to lead and direct His church today. I KNOW that the Savior died for ME, so that I could return to live with him. I KNOW that my Savior will come again, and when he does, I will be ready to see him EYE TO EYE!