Ignite the Light and Let it SHINE.

So it's New Years Eve and this year's definitely not been what I expected at all. I tend to think of my years relative to the school year. So in thinking about the actual year...I've gotta go WAYYY back to last semester. So far!! I know. I'm getting old. Blah.

Sparing the boring and drawn out details...I'll just recap the year really (and I mean really) quickly. Ideally 12 sentences or less.
January: Second semester of college, I've got the hang of things a little better, and a new roommate.
February: New roommate (Brinlee) turns out to be just the perfect fit, Valentines day--absolutely hate it...okay "hate" is a little strong, but you get the idea...not my favorite holiday.
March: SPRING BREAK!! California and Disneyland=LOVE. Met Dan at the library (see what good little students we are...we met at the library!)
April: Hmm...not too much to say here. Pretty sure this was the first official date with Dan watching planet earth eating popcorn and drinking hawaiian punch, spent lots (and I mean lots) of time floating down the river, which conveniently worked out to always be on Tuesdays so Hannah and I frequently went to nutrition smelling like delicious river mud nastiness.
May: Some things literally went to hell and I never planned on them coming back, finished my first year of college, and headed home, more relieved than anything to be leaving Thatcher and parting ways with some people.
June: Work work work all week long, and I can't complain too much. It kept me busy and from thinking about a lot of things. Enjoyed soaking up the summer sun every chance I got. ALSO: Everyone left on their missions!! And so the mass letter writing begins...
July: Work work work...visit Utah and see all the cousins, family, explore Provo Canyon, and visit the Clarks.
August: Work, back to school. I learned a lot about forgiveness and gave up my vices. Started talking to a few people again. Went to FRY MESA the first weekend back in Thatcher.
September: Peppersauce Caves in Tuscon, Rees and Tracee's wedding, going on a second "first date" with Dan to see the Last Exorcism....which I'm pretty sure I swore under my breath the entire time and then laughed as soon as it was over.
October: GF status. Yeahhh...still adjusting to that one. Halloween block party :]
November: Thanksgiving break...much much much needed and I can't exactly say I was excited to go back to school, except to see Dan. ONE
December: Meeting the fam...went MUCH better than I had planned. Missing him entirely too much it's honestly quite ridiculous, but I guess that's what happens. Christmas in Utah, seeing all the cousins, mass insanity. Oh and snow in Arizona...right in my backyard. Got into the nursing program...and then deciding not to do it at EA. Probably one of the hardest decisions I've had to make in a long time. Relying on the Lord that He knows what's best and has the best intentions for me.

So now I'm sitting here looking at where I've been and where I'm going, and honestly if there's one thing I've learned this last year, NOTHING goes according to plan. It's quite frustrating but I'm managing. Let's see what next year brings. :]

Here's to 2010 and all the ups and downs. As for 2011: Bring it on!

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger....right?

Let's just lay this out straight: today has been a day from Hell. (I even capitalized it so it's not swearing--see Abbie I'm working on it!!) There's honestly no other way to put it without using any explitives--note: I haven't used ANY today. And yes I am patting myself on the back for it. You'll see why.

So I get up this morning knowing that I've got a crap ton of stuff to do today so that I can start nursing school in two weeks. First blow of the morning: processing my background check takes 4-6 weeks!! (WHY HELLO BLOW FROM WAY THE HECK OUT IN LEFT FIELD!) I only just found out I got into nursing school a week ago. Someone please tell me how I'm supposed to get all this done in that time frame. After much crying (yes I rediscovered my tear ducts today. They still work--no surprise), I put myself together as best I could and raced across the valley with my mother in tow to get all this stuff done.

Second blow of the morning: after talking to the nursing director (finally!) she informed me that I have to have the above mentioned fingerprints processed because that's a part of passing your cna. Apparently it's not enough to have a fingerprint clearance card, have passed my cna test, and have just found out that I got in so all of this crap does in fact HAVE to be done. Great.

Third blow of the morning: well the lady at the board of nursing said there's no way to make it go any faster. Screwed into the ground. Oh well, it still has to be done so at least I can get a job at a hospital and work as a cna.

So after much more crying and frustration--I tell you I'm such a girl. Abbie knows this...she has to suffer through it on a pretty regular basis--I came to the conclusion that it's probably not gonna happen for me this semester. It's just not lining up in a way that it's even plausible that it's gonna happen. I mean after all, 4 weeks doesn't shrink into 2. Talking to my mom in the car on the way home, it just is making a little more sense. She brought up an interesting point though. Maybe the test isn't actually getting in, maybe the test is saying no and having faith in the Lord that even though it's gonna take a little longer, I'll be a nurse one day. It's gonna happen.

Whew. So that puts a lot on my mind to think about for tonight. I've got a nice long list of all the things I've got to ask when I say my prayers. I hope He doesn't tire from hearing me. I feel like I've talked his ear off quite a lot lately. Maybe that's the other problem...I'm talking too much and not listening enough. It wouldn't be the first time.

So I'm doing it. I'm gonna let it go, and trust the Lord. He knows what's best and He's got the best perspective from way up there I'm sure.

Now it's just off to order books and figure out where I'm going to school next year. Any suggestions? Except Idaho...sorry Kendra--it's just too stinkin cold up there! :]

And this is why I will now begin training for a marathon

So I've got a pretty good looking boyfriend, and this fact was made pretty apparent to me today.

[Insert Picture of Sexy Rock Hard Body]

I also realized I'm at double F status--fat and frumpy. So to do away with the double F, I've decided that I am going to start training for a marathon. Yes I know that this has been an endeavor in the past, but I'd really like to just have a flat tummy. We'll work on the 6 pack eventually. But flat would be just WONDERFUL!

Then I could just appreciate the curves a little bit more. Don't get me wrong, I love my curves...but let's face it, a flat tummy would be nice. And that doesn't necessarily mean getting rid of curves, just accentuating them a little more, right?

Anyway, just some food for thought :]

Boys...They burp and they like to moon ya!! --Little Rascals
so then Abbie adds: And all I could think about was Arielle burping and Megan mooning!

FEAR THE FORK! Babies and HD TV, and Ugly Sweater Parties...hmm sounds like a week in Thatcher.

This blog has been in the works for a couple of days because, let's just face it, this week was intense!! We'll just start with by far one of the most epic games I've ever been to! (Okay I've only been to one other D1 game...so I don't know how I'm ever gonna sit through another one, but that's alright).

THURSDAY: So let's just say that holy cow...fear the fork. Yeahhhh buddy. If you'd like to read about the game, well Hannah Gunderson was so kind to write down the proceedings of the game. Read here :] While we were driving down there, Dan was on the po po watch (aka the cop watch) and I'm flying down the highway, going like almost 85--it's 75 out there. So I'm just cruising along, out of no where:
Dan: COP!
Arielle: Oh shit!
[Nervous laughter]
Yes, that's exactly how it went down. Excuse the language, but seriously I saw my insurance bill flash before my eyes. It was awesome. But the whole trip down there was super fun! We hung out at Raegan's house and ate some delish dinner and headed out to the game! ASU of course won!! Thanks so much to U of A's kicker. It's alright buddy...maybe next year you'll learn how to kick a little higher. Then the drive home, so cute. Dan just held my hand the whole time. :] Okay so the boy doesn't take losing too well, but it's okay, because at the end of the day he still likes me...even if I'm a sun devil. We played the make it or break it game with every one in the car--you know the one where it's a scenario of pretty much the perfect person, except one thing. It was super funny to hear the things that people came up with. Haha.

TUESDAY: So I let Dan read the last post on Tuesday night when he was over, and well needless to say, it was one of the most nerve racking moments of my life. I just climbed in my bed and faced the wall and was focusing on breathing. Not even joking. I didn't know what to do!! And he was just sitting on the end of my bed. I swear it was like a freaking half an hour to read it! Not really, but it felt like forever. So then, he gets up really quietly because he thought I was asleep or something, he kissed my cheek, and whispered really quietly, really softly: I love you. Oh dang I was awake. So he walks out, and then I was waiting for a second or two. I rolled over and looked at Abbie, thinking the whole time that Dan had already left, and we just started busting up laughing. And it wasn't exactly quiet laughter either. It was LOUD!!

Then we heard it...the door creaking open. Oh shiz. Yes we had just been caught laughing at him...and he hadn't even left yet! That was the worst! Okay I guess I should clear that up, we weren't laughing at him, more that the previous event had just transpired. I was NEVER, and I mean EVER, gonna let him read my blog, and then Abbie was like Arielle you have to let him read that post at least, and then I just gave it up, so yeah he's probably reading this right now...HI Dan!

WEDNESDAY: I was walking back from the institute with Jacquelyn Wolfe, Nicole Baldwin, and Tiffany Brimhall. We had just been watching Nicole's brother, Brian, basketball game. So we're walking home and we were talking about four letter words, and out of no where,
Nicole said: I bet when it happens, there's gonna be other four letter words associated with it. Dan's gonna say, Damn I love you.
[Then Jacquelyn pipes in]
Jacq: Yeah and Arielle's gonna say, Oh shit.
To make things even funnier, we all agreed that that would probably happen, or at least it was very very likely that it would come out like that!

FRIDAY: Okay this is what happens in the wee hours of the morning. Abbie and I end up talking about everything and anything...and lately, I end up balling my eyes out. (Honestly, I've realized lately that I'm such a ball baby! It's absolutely ridiculous.) The conversation spanned everything you could think of. Really. We talked about babies and HD tvs--which I think we've both decided that you can't tell the difference between HD and regular. We ended up being awake until 6!! I think I decided about 430 that it was pointless to even count on going to sleep!

So a few hours later, I wake up to go to class...yeah I made it through about 10 minutes of it. I couldn't even convince myself to stay. So Dan picked me up, and I hung out at his house for a couple hours...never quite getting to sleep. Ugh it was ridiculous. Let's just be nice and say I looked like a zombie. And that's putting it nicely. To finish off my day, I studied and went to bed around 1030, because I had to take my CNA test in the morning.

SATURDAY: Driving at 430 in the am. Highly recommend it. There is absolutely no one on the road! Except coyotes...which like to hide around corners and lay dead in the road. I'm pretty sure I just took off the head of the coyote and kept driving. But dang, I was awake!! Holy crap I was awake. The adrenaline was pumping and there was no way I was falling asleep after that.

So I'm sitting in the hallway and reading over my skills before I went to go take the skills test, and I just really missed Dan. I had just seen him, no joke 6 hours ago, and I would see him later in the day. I totally missed him though and I wanted to see him!! Ugh...the only bad thing about boyfriends, I find that I miss him in the most random times. Like at times when I should be stressing over a huge test...I missed him. And it was all I could do on the drive home not to speed like a crazy person just so I could get home faster and see him.

Then Saturday night, Monica got baptized!! I've gone to a few baptisms this year, and this one was so special. The talks were so amazing and the missionaries had everyone write down their testimony and put it in a book for her. Writing it down was so special to me. I hope she always remembers it, and honestly I think it was the best thing for me to just think about what I believe in and what I know to be true. It made me remember and realize what my institute teacher tells us every time we leave class...The Lord loves you and the Church is true.

Later, there was an ugly sweater party at my house! Haha super fun! We had a white elephant gift exchange. Dan picked first. Well Dan's gift was handcuffs and a stick horse. Okay, I don't think I've turned so many shades of red all at once. Everyone was like OHHHHHH!! Then a couple of gifts later, someone opened a pregnancy test. Then they asked if Dan and I wanted it...because apparently we were gonna need it for later. WHAT-E-VER!!! It gets better though, my number to pick was 24, so I picked my gift and it was fake money and police badges. Once again, I almost died. Haha then everyone really gave us crap for the gifts! When it came time for Brian to pick his gift, he asked this: If I trade with Dan, does Arielle come in handcuffs? Greattttt. Haha.

Well it's been a great couple of days...and honestly Matt Pellegrini right now wants me to leave my blog and go look at Christmas lights THAT AREN'T EVEN UP YET!! Hahah. Oh well, anyway it's been fun!! Seriously so much fun. Last night was by far one of the funnest nights in Thatcher thus far!

Quotes of the day:
hi my name is abbie colyar. i just took a shower and now I'm freezing. and I'm a mormon.

she didn't hear the wedding bells...she heard the wedding night.