Do you wanna go to Hawaii?

So I'm looking for someone who wants to go to Hawaii for a week, June 4th through the 11th, for $700 (that includes the ticket.)   I'm looking for preferably a girl...because right now its me and a bunch of guys. haha.  Anyone that is serious about this please let me know!  We will be staying on Oahu at the North Shore and driving around the island to do fun stuff.  We will be attending the LDS temple, staying in a vacation rental home, seeing the polynesian center, snorkeling, playing on the beach, swimming with sea turtles, eating some fabulous food.....

(And people, this is seriously a steal!!  We are getting good deals galore!) 

Love,

Shayna

Temple. Just love it.

Aaaah...I love the temple!  

I'm so happy we have one so close by, and it is one of my most looked-forward-to parts of my Hawaii trip coming up in June! :)  What a beautiful place to stop, breathe, reflect on the Lord, reflect on life, and find revelation for yourself and peace of mind outside of the regular confusion and mess of the world outside.  Everyone in the world needs a place to go like that.

Valentine's Cynic

Alright people.  So just because I am single does not mean I have a reason to not like Valentine's day. Actually, I've never been a huge fan of it. Not even when I am dating someone.  In fact, its WAY worse when I'm dating someone.  Why, you ask?  It's a day to celebrate love, Shayna!  Do you hate? Would you rather have a day of blackness and woe?  Well, yes, actually.  It would be the Halloween of February.  That's why February doesn't have 31 days like October--they wanted to avoid Hallow-tines...

Actually, I am NOT against love.  In fact, I am very much FOR love.  Maybe that's why I dislike a day that I perceive as a day construed by some woman that was not feeling appreciated enough and expected more attention than her lover was giving.  (Or perhaps a very needy guy....) You see, to me, love means simple day-to-day acts, thoughtfulness daily, frequent expressions of "I love you" and "You are appreciated."  If someone does something big and grand, well, it just seems like there must be an imbalance in the relationship somewhere.  It isn't temperate--its passionate on some days, and cold on other days.  Of course, it also creates more expectation problems between guys and girls--The man buys flowers for his mom, for example, and then doesn't buy the flowers for his wife (who obviously gets offended--dang, I would be too, what a jerk.....and THAT is a true story I heard on Valentine's) It's all commercialized, insincere, and create this massive anxiety....

Anyways, maybe I am wrong, but that is the way I feel about it at this moment in my life.

The end.

Freaky Mannequin...

OHMYGOSH....Maybe we should put more mannequin's up like this in places that we don't want any business....Talk about freaky! 

Being More Intentional

intentional [ɪnˈtɛnʃən^əl]   (freedictionary.com)

adj

1. performed by or expressing intention; deliberate

2. of or relating to intention or purpose

3. (Philosophy) Philosophy

a.  of or relating to the capacity of the mind to refer to different kinds of objects

b.  (of an object) existing only as the object of some mental attitude rather than in reality, as a unicorn in she hopes to meet a unicorn See also intensional

intentionality  n

intentionally  adv

There is a quote on my coworkers computer that says, "Always Be Intentional."  

To me this means something different every time I look at it.  I am intentionally ignoring this kid.  I am intentionally choosing to not make a choice (well, how often do we actually INTENTIONALLY choose to not make a choice...).  I am intentionally listening to a certain song to make my day feel better.   I am intentionally increasing the weights I am lifting in order to not just cruise through my workout but to actually get somewhere.  You get the picture.

I have decided to make little, intentional changes in my life for the better. For example, I have realized how easy it is to fall into the trap of listening to certain music because it is fun and has a good beat, and you just ignore all the negative lyrics.  Well, maybe that isn't the best thing to do, because sometimes we don't realize how much those lyrics are actually affecting us, as fun as the song IS....or maybe its other things, like choosing to eat fruits and veggies when you get home instead of grabbing the Oreo cookies that are so easily sitting on your desk (or at least eating a piece of fruit FIRST, come on people. haha..GUILTY!) ....or purposefully drinking more water throughout the day.  It's amazing how easy it is to just forget to do little things....like intentionally reading your scriptures with a purpose, or intentionally praying with full intent and sincerity of heart.  We can be intentional with our words both to the Lord, to ourselves, and to others. We can make intentional choices to better our own lives and the lives of those around us.  It takes work!  yes, work.  Most good things take work, and I daresay that we will not get anywhere without thinking intentionally about our thoughts, actions, words, etc.  You won't just happen to float into grad school, or end up in the Celestial Kingdom just by thinking about how cool it would be to be there.  You won't get a job if you don't apply yourself towards it.  

So, what is it you want from your life?  Where do you see yourself in five years? What do you WANT to see? What about in twenty years?  Are you on track with your ultimate goal? 

"And behold, ye do know of yourselves, for ye have witnessed it, that as many of them as are brought to the knowledge of the truth....which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart unto them--Therefore, as many as have come to this, ye know of yourselves are firm and steadfast in the faith, and in the thing wherewith they have been made free." 

(Helaman 15:7-8)(That comes from the Book of Mormon, if you haven't read it click here to get a copy for yourself.)

Go on, be intentional, have faith in what is ahead and in the Lord's plan for you, whatever that may be, take the steps and act, and experience what it feels like to be free. 

Wait, I am moving out of here???..and another self realization.

Last night me and my friends went to check out this townhouse up in Pleasant Grove.  It was cute, homey, in a neighborhood with real people (aka, not college students, but married people and some single lady with 3 kids)....and I thought, wow this actually feels like a home.  Accept we three are single girls who basically fail at Provo life cause we are all too old for it...(ok let me be more positive about that, we simply have outgrown Provo in some ways, though I love Provo. Sara is NOT too old for Provo, but she has had a lot of life experience behind her.)  I mean, logically it doesn't make sense to be "too old" for a city, but when all of your neighbors are about 22ish, still in school, workin at Taco Bell, and you are graduated as of about 3 years ago, work a full time job, and are kind of ready to just live life, well.....flyers about "rockin party must be 18 to come play" "DJ Hizzy in the Hizzouse", "Come Meet Hotties in 237"....well, its fun and all but...I go to bed at 10 dangit, and everyone else in Provo my age has about 3 kids by now....(which is totally fine...its just hard to hang out with them ha)  (and dont get me wrong, I love a good night of fun.)

Oh man..this means some major changes. I'm scared, not gonna lie!  What if this new place has no social life at all?  What if everyone is so old and set in their ways?  What if I go there and feel shut off from any kind of life because I actually have to drive to find anything fun to do?  And the drive...gasp....my job already starts at 630 in the morning and I work in Provo, which means from PG it will be like half an hour.  Is it worth it?  Cause I might just move back to CA at the end of Summer anyways....so is it worth it?  It might change my mind about moving out of Utah...then again it might make me really WANT to go home haha.

I will say one thing.  I have full confidence and trust in the Lord, that if I do my part, He will not let me go the way that I shouldn't go.  I know that if I do my part, and let Him do His part, things will work out the way they ought to.  I am happy, really, with my life. I don't feel like I have to complain about being single (yah took me long enough haha), and I like that I have all this freedom to go out and do things that I have always wanted to do (well, as long as I can afford it ha).  I have been blessed immensely--wonderful family, food on my table, a roof over my head, good friends, things to laugh at, things to learn, moments of pain that only allow me to deepen my life's experiences and learn things.  I finally feel like life's tradgedies are in perspective, and I realize this is thanks to the Temple.  Oh how I love the Temple.  It is also thanks to past experiences that were really tough for me at the time but then I learned things!  Isn't life great?  So...here's hoping for a positive experience, but if not, here's hoping I will be humble enough to learn from whatever happens.  :)

PS...Another Self Realization

OH my gosh...I am a FLIRT!! Did not even realize that....But here I am....and man is life fun. HA....I thought I was done with all this flirtyness business a couple years ago....

But I just hope I haven't hurt anyone in the process...gasp....JUST trying to make life fun for everyone! :)  Isn't it fun to be flirted with?  I do declare, it sure is!

The trouble with bein a flirt, though, is that when people actually try to chase me down, I just run away.  Bye bye!  Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread woman!  ha..that, and when I actually get serious, I get way too serious. Yuck.  So let us commence with the fun and try to find the right balance in life, shall we?

Oh dear me, what has gotten into my 27 year old brain?  I kind of like it......

Parenting! AAH!

The last four weeks I have worked on the Children's unit at the hospital nearly every day.  I LOVE working with the Children. They are cute, they say the funniest things, they run up to you and hug you, they tease you, they say things as they are ("Your hair is messy today!"), they ask you about your love life (haha..not that I ever tell them), you have chances to help them change their behavior around for the better, race the down the hallway with them....I could go on.  And now I am collecting a growing pile of doodlings, crafts, and fun memories...

(one of the kids made this for Valentine's day! HAHAHA!)

The thing about these kids, though, is that they get away with all kinds of crap outside of the hospital that WE are supposed to NOT allow so that they can change their behavior.  For example, maybe they are too intrusive in people's personal space.  They bully, they bite, spit, pee on the walls, are controlling, beg you for attention constantly, have huge mood swings, a few of them are autistic....so you can't exactly be that laid back kind of person that can trust them without having to listen to every word.  You must be constantly vigilant, follow through with all the rules, punish them accordingly , pay attention to twenty kids at once, and still keep your head on straight without becoming the town task-master or punisher.  The power struggle is really, really hard sometimes!  I feel like all I ever do is tell them to stop doing stuff.  It's really challenging to build relationships of trust with them.....

It's making me remember my parenting class with Dr. Nelson at BYU. He gave us a little piece of advice once, something to the effect of changing your parenting mindset from being a REACTOR to situations to someone who thinks ahead and is more of a BUILDER--a foundation former so to speak.  

My problem is this:  I feel like I am either the reactor, or a pushover!  I haven't learned yet how to lay down the law without losing their trust that I do in fact care. (It would help to have this there because then when I would tell them to stop doing something, they would more than likely stop a little easier.) One kid was upset today because I was his watch "AGAIN??!!"  haha....Im SORRY OK??!!! lol.  One little girl I was watching ran over to tell on some other kid to another tech because I "just wasn't paying attention!"  (huh? lol)  So I spent time with these kids playing war with origami paper....watching them draw pictures....and yes, standing back and taking a breather sometimes.  

Oh man, I'm realizing how difficult and consuming parenting really is.  I'm not even a mom yet....but man, it takes a LOT of dedication, I mean, even minute by minute, to kids in order to do your job right!  It's like I'm not even allowed to mentally zone.....and I'm realizing just how often I mentally zone.  I could zone for hours. haha...it helps me to deal with life.  It's probably a habit I've gotten into as a single person--lots of ME time.  I mean like hours a day!  But, no zoning allowed in parenting apparently....How do you guys DO it?!!