A Door That Is Always Open

Yay!

VISITORS!

I love love love when Daron and I have guests in our home.

So far his parents are definitely our most frequent guests. It gets me giddy inside every time they come and stay. Two weekends ago we had my parents for the first time.

It is such a pleasure to have our parents stay with us.

This past weekend was.................

SHALICE AND TREVOR! 

I made Daron take a picture of my cheesy face to show my excitement to pick them up from the airport.

Ya...that's right. I couldn't help it! This is a very rare thing - It is not every day that we get to hang out with this lovely couple.

It's a blast when Daron and I hang out with one of my siblings. I think he really sees more and more why I am the way I am. For example: my favorite part of the weekend was when we got on the subject of Shalice and I mispronouncing/fumbling our words. Trevor was teasing Shalice about how she would say "herbs" (without a silent h) and "thyme" (also without a silent h).

Later, the four of us got on a subject that we were semi- debating and as I finished my last points I proceeded to say, "Alright I'm stepping down from my soap opera. That's all I have to say..."

ha ha ha. Can you believe that!? JUST AFTER we had teased Shalice, I fumbled "soap opera" for "soap box." Don't worry Daron and Trevor got a kick out of that one. I am not hesitant to say that about every child in the Pugmire family messes up their words on a frequent bases (the exception is Aaron- who knows how he became so articulate). The best part is there is no wondering where this endearing quality came from....

The One and Only.

Mama Pugmire.

I can honestly say some of the most memorable moments of our vacations is when my mom says something so backwards that all you can do is laugh. We give my mom such a hard time about this. The truth is we ALL do it. And as much as we give her a hard time, it is something we love about her the most.

For Shalice and I, however, I am a little worried if we are this bad already at messing up our words. I have a feeling we are going to need to start praying now that our kids will have patience with us and be nicer than we were. Heaven only knows that it isn't going to get better from here!

(their adorable nieces on Trevor's side- both of these girls have the most beautiful hair.)

(we enjoyed a day at Trevor's sisters house)

THANK YOU AGAIN to Shalice and Trevor for staying with us.

And Daron and I want all to know that you are always welcome.

The Annual Teaser Has Arrived

Oh baby, Oh baby.

I just gotta say...

There is a SPRING in my step today!

For the first time this year, I felt like spring, just maybe, is right around the corner.

My inclinations first started out with my morning run. I wore the usual gear. Pants, long sleeve shirt with a jacket, head band, gloves thinking it was going to be another nippy morning. 

(kind of a terrifying picture. however, it does remind me of the 3 Ninjas movie which I love- that Daron has never seen. It is a must.)

Boy did Utah give me a surprise today!

Warm sunshine was everywhere. It was making me sweat like a banchie but I didn't mind. Nope! Not one bit.

I even got to wear a SHORT SLEEVED shirt. I honestly can't remember the last time I walked out of the house without a sweater on. And here's proof of my literally transparent arms that show just how white I am.

It's been weeks now that I have wanted to paint my nails a bright spring color. But I have been resisting constantly cause I knew once I would paint my nails this color I just might get ahead of myself.

(I was so antsy to paint them I brought my nail polish to school and did it in the library. Hence why there is a computer in the background.)

It is true that March does this to us every  year. Just teases us with warm, glorious sunshine. Then BAM! Out of no where we will have more snow storms.

See...the sun comes out and so do yellow balloons! (Not really, this was my attempt to support "Guitar Unplugged"...... until a security guard at the library yelled at me to cut it off :( said it would set off the fire alarm. ha that was great)

The point is...every year I don't let myself get excited about the warm weather because I know that it isn't officially here. This year though, is different. I've decided. I am not going to let the future snow storms stop me from feeling this heart bursting anticipation for the warm, spring days ahead.

Just gonna' soak it all in... 

The Cougar In Me

6 more months and I am a college graduate. 

6 more months and my time at BYU will have officially come to an end.

This is very bitter/sweet for me.

My time here at BYU has been an experience that I will never forget. I feel that it is time to move on with my graduated husband and explore the life that doesn't include school. It's funny that I complain all the time about school; yet, I can't really imagine my life without it. 

I honestly feel sad when I think about how I won't be walking BYU's campus on a weekly basis. This place, for me, is like no other. There are opportunities and circumstances here that are so unique, so special. This institution has made me a better person. Not just because the wonderful opportunities of things like devotionals (which are amazing) but also because of the people I was able to associate with. 

This past weekend I had the unique opportunity of tagging along with my parents to their PLC (President Leadership Council) meetings. One night, they took everyone to the basement of the library where we were able to look at "Special Collections." I had no idea this place existed. It was incredible.

Did you know that the young man who dropped the atomic bomb was a Mormon!? A good looking one at that! My mom and I about died when we saw his picture. He was adorable. (don't worry, I am allowed to say that). It was sad though. He was so young. Basically a boy. He didn't talk about it for 50 YEARS. His wife had no idea that he was the one that did it. He didn't talk about it until the end of his life. 

We got to see so many things like this. There were actual diary entries and letters of the prophets and Apostles- with their own hand writing. There was an original Book of Mormon and the Book of Commandments. The librarian over special collections said that they recieved their Book  of Commandments for $1500. Today it is worth 1 to 2 million. 

The last day, President Uchtdorf spoke to all the members. (Luckily, family members were invited! I didn't feel as out of place). He was hilarious. I have never seen him so funny. He was crackin' jokes everywhere. He mentioned how General Conference was coming up. He said he feels like it comes up every two weeks. He then proceeded to ask if anyone had any good ideas for a talk he could give and to please submit it to him! 

(Sister Uchtdorf had the cutest laugh. It was so contagious)

I left the weekend feeling so uplifted and full of so much gratitude for the opportunity I have had to attend this university. There is good and bad in everything. Of course, if you want to, you can find plenty of things that are "wrong" with provo or this university. But that is a choice. 

BYU will always have a special place in my heart. I am a cougar fan through and through. (Whether we have Jimmer or not :). 

Concern For the One

The very first blog post I made on this thing talked about how I was getting rid of the good old facebook and entering the blogging world. I mentioned how I would have some "extra time" and that I needed to figure out something good to do with it. 

I am so very happy to say that I actually used this extra time for good. Can you believe it?? I kind of can't. Time managing has never been my strong point. Is it anyone's? Only super women...

Anyway, what did I do?

Read a book :) for LEISURE. That's right. I read a book in my new little free time.

A great book at that. 

Today I finished President Monson's Biography called To the Rescue. 

Being completely honest, this book was long and at times hard to read. There are so many people and places that it sometimes was hard to keep up with (for me). But in the end, it was worth every second. I couldn't believe how many times this book made me cry. It was so incredibly inspiring. 

Summarizing this book is practically impossible. There are so many wonderful stories. I want to list them ALL. Unfortunately, that would take days. So, my 2 second version of why you should check out this book is-

it will teach you 3 very important things.

1. how to LEAD

2. how to SERVE

3. how to LOVE

My favorite quote about President Monson in this book is by Elder Neil L. Andersen. 

"President Monson's heart is like the heart of the Lord. President Monson would treat the janitor cleaning the banister the same way he would treat the ambassador from Russia who comes in to visit him. Because of his sense of eternal nature of people, he doesn't see the world in terms of economic or social status. He sees as the Lord would see, and he reaches out." 

What an amazing quality to have. After you read this book, you will feel just a tiny ounce of how our Heavenly Father feels for each of us. There is story after story telling how President Monson showed so much concern for the one soul. 

At the end, the author Heidi S. Swinton lists several quotes that President Monson lived by. These were some of my favorites.

~ "Decisions determine destiny."

~"Your decision to think right, choose right, and do right will rarely if ever be the easiest course to follow."

~"You do not find the happy life--- you make it."

~"Life is like a candid camera; it does not wait for you to pose."

~"The door of history turns on small hinges, and so do people's live."

President Thomas S. Monson is truly a man of God. 

Say you're out there

2 weekends have gone by now that I haven't seen this movie.

It crushes me. 

It is true that I have been DYING to see this teeny bopper movie since I saw it in the previews for the movie Tangled...and my sweet husband that I love absolutely refuses to (which I agreeably understand...) but still is there anyone out there that wants to see this as bad as I do?!  

I'm daydreaming of a night of girls, this little pop artist in the making, and frozen yogurt...

That doesn't sound too bad right!?

Where, oh where, Will We Be

California!!

No...Colorado!!

or Utah??

Where to end up is the never ending question!

Daron and I go back and forth and back and forth. It is a never ending cycle of pros and cons that have us convinced on Utah one day, California the next and so on. It is just so hard.

The pros to CA??

~ some pretty special people (aka family) never knew what a huge draw they would be.

 I didn't think it would be a big deal to be apart from my family until my sisters and mom started calling me up saying, "oh yeah we are just going to be watching the bachelor tonight together" or "oh yeah we are just getting our nails done " or (my favorite one) "yeah we are just at Disney Land together for Courtney's birthday"

Soooo lame. Kills me every time! 

(haha Courtney's famous face, how can I not miss this)

~and of course, unbeatable weather. you have snow hours north and the beach 30 minutes south...so spoiled

This morning, Daron and I woke up to 

this.

What did my parents wake up to?

yeah, quite the difference! I'm not saying snow is bad. I love the snow. But it's about this time of year that I start craving some warm sunshine!

But in all honesty, that's about it. 

California is expensive, crowded, and in a hole government wise. To people that haven't grown up there, it just might be one of the most unappealing states as of right now.

The pros to CO??

~more special people!

~Daron's favorite- "you can just go shooting in your backyard!" Daron loves the fact that you can have more land and do lots of crazy outdoor stuff (like four wheeling in your grandma's backyard).

(I like this too.)

however, in CA this weekend I did wake up to this...no lie.

 (Daron and Dawson shooting rabbits out of my dad's conservatory...really!? ha looks like that can be done else where after all.)

~the LAKE

~the government isn't bankrupt

~and, last but not least, MOUNTAINS and snow. I told my Dad a long time ago that I wanted a "mountain man." And viola! I got me one. I didn't know that was going to happen so literally but I like it.

as for the Cons: well...none! 

(besides the fact that there aren't any puggy's)

Annnnddd pros for Utah??

~also has gorgeous MOUNTAINS and the snow

~also has no bankrupt government

~a really growing economy

~we are right in the middle of both of our families

~and, one of the most appealing, a lot more bang for your buck!

But then once again...no puggy's ;( 

I know where ever Daron and I end up we will be so happy. But is it so bad that I just wish we had a crystal ball!? I thought the crystal ball ended after you figured out who you were marrying. But no, I was very wrong about that. I want a crystal ball to see where we are going to end up, to see what our kid's will look like, to see how many we will have, and soo many more things.

I guess that's the beauty of life. It is full of surprises. It is great advice to "enjoy the journey" one special day at a time.

Midnight Mystery

My mom used to always come wake me up and say that it looked like a tornado hit my room. I thought it was normal for the bed to look like this after you slept in it.

Then, this weekend, Daron sent me a picture of what our bed looks like after he slept in it by himself. 

Does this picture not look like a mouse slept in our bed!?

It cracks me up. And seriously makes me wonder what in the world I am doing in the middle of the night??

It truly is a mystery.