One of those Moments

I had an important realization today. I suppose it's something that I should have already known, but today it was just reinforced to me.

While our lives are often defined by relationships, events and places we've been, another part is also defined by moments. I should clarify what I mean. By moments, I refer to times, which may be large or small, when we realize what is most important or we just feel content. We may or may not recognize the significance at the time, but in retrospect we may be able to recognize why it was so important.

I had such a moment tonight. My niece is in the hospital this week. It was kind of a last minute change of plans on Wednesday morning when my sister and my niece were getting ready to leave for her doctor's appointment. I'm not going to go into detail, but suffice it to say they had to change one of her medicines and put her on some intravenous nutrition which meant she needed to be admitted to the hospital. Anyway, she hates being in the hospital, so it's been hard on her.

Tonight, my sister and I and her father and mother-in-law, who were visiting, went down to the cafeteria to have dinner. We got our food and headed out to a place my sister referred to as the Angel Garden. Basically, it's this really nice little garden spot just outside the entrance to the hospital, complete with a little waterfall. You can sit out there on benches and enjoy the atmosphere and see the mountains peek over the top of the hospital.

As we ate our dinner, we sat outside enjoying the beautiful night, listening to the sound of water and just relaxing. There's something so soothing about the sound of running water. My niece, whom I'll call her Miss Sassypants, had to bring a tower, with three IV bags and various other medicines to be able to leave her room, but just for that short time, she was able to relax and lay her head on her mom's lap. She's looked so sad all day (a side effect of the medicine) that it was nice to see her have some relief even for a short time. And I recognized this experience as one of those "moments" that only come along so often. I hope that I was able to enjoy it for what it was--and the peace it brought.

A Little Bit Nostalgic

I haven't been very good about writing in this recently and for that I apologize. It's not that I haven't thought about it; I've just been busy with other things and haven't gotten around to it. Oh well! And my entries are all slightly belated too, but again, just bear with me.

This week marked the beginning of the school year not only for my madre and padre and my very dear Speak but also for many friends from my ward which is, after all, a student ward. :)

I've watched all of this with slightly mixed feelings. Mostly I feel relieved that I'm not the one who has to go back to school, but at the same time, I remember the excitement that went along with it. I remember the fun and somewhat outrageous times I had with my roommates and then I think of the stress that came with it such as homework, projects, reading assignments and just trying to figure my life out. I was luckier than most in that I knew from a young age what I wanted to do and have never wavered from it. I have also been blessed enough to find a job in my profession, something I know many people are not able to do.

I realized a few weeks ago that this fall marks the fourth year since I graduated from college. This means I have now been away for as long as I was there. Crazy how fast time passes! I also realized that I had my second anniversary at my job this summer which, again, means that I have now been away for as long as I was there. I feel like I should be at some sort of crossroads in having this realization, but I don't necessarily feel that's the case. I am striving to do good things in my life and to always improve myself, but I think I can do better.

It's just an interesting feeling to think about being done with college for so long. I can still remember what it was like but I'm afraid that I'm starting to forget just a bit. I like to think I can empathize with friends who are still in school. It's just weird to think that college is now an almost entirely separate area of my life. The most important thing at this point is to make sure I'm progressing and not digressing. But I think I'm not doing so bad.

Back from my Favorite Place

This entry is just a tidge bit belated, but that's just how things go sometimes, so bear with me.

Last week I had a wonderful vacation to one of my most favorite places in the entire world: Yellowstone National Park. My family first visited the park when I was only three years old, and it's now become a special place for all of us. We usually only have about three days to spend in the park, but we sure do our best to make the most of them. This trip was no exception. We saw all kinds of things. And I just realized that the name of my blog fits this post very well -- Through Tammy's Eyes. Here are several of the things I saw with my two good eyes. :)

boiling mud

hot pools, many, many hot pools

wildlife (which caused a many problems with traffic. It took us an extra 45 minutes to get out of the park on our first night because this buffalo was walking down the middle of the road. The nerve!)

and, finally, the best part--geysers!!! I even got to see my most favorite one, Beehive! I missed Grand, which is another amazing one, in the process, but it was worth it. We also saw Daisy and Riverside.

I might have also seen some couply things like this

and this

but it's okay. Here's my cute parents

and my cute kids!

Finally, look what I did in Yellowstone: I found a man! Speak is going to be so excited to be relieved of this duty. Okay, just kidding. That's actually a lie. She's going to be so disappointed that I snagged a fellow all on my own. Oh well!

If You Could

On Monday evening, my very dear Smirk and I went to a baseball game. We got the royal treatment, as a thank you from the outside marketing agency our department works with, and got to be in one of the sports suites. Not only did they feed us, but they also brought treats, drinks, fun prizes for all the kids and, to top it off, ice cream!

The game itself was pretty uneventful (the Bees lost), but the cool part of this whole experience was the discovery that only two suites down, President Monson, his wife Frances and, I'm assuming, some of their family members were sitting. As soon as Smirk and I heard about that, we found it much more interesting to see him than we did the game. In case you're wondering, yes, he did sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. :)

And he stayed until pretty much the very end too. Pretty impressive I'd say, and it shows that going to a baseball game is just fine as a Family Home Evening activity.

I relate this story for one reason, a question Smirk posed to me. If you could ask President Monson just one question, what would it be? I would be more than interested to hear your answer; both Smirk and I had to think carefully about it because we didn't know. Please take just a minute or two to comment because I'd love to hear.

And, yes, it's only fair to tell you what mine would be if I'm asking for yours. I decided I would ask: How do I allow myself to be lead by the Lord and how do I know if I'm letting myself be lead?

An Uninvited Stowaway!

Well, my adventures seem to continue. I had yet another one today that I'm sure you would be so thrilled to hear about. Even if you aren't, well, you're reading this post so that means you kind of have to, unless you stop reading of course.

This morning I climbed out of bed and got ready for work as usual. I may have slept in a little extra and taken slightly longer than usual to get ready (I'm in pre-vacation mode you should understand), but it was an otherwise uneventful morning.

After work I was planning to run some pre-trip errands, and I decided it just wouldn't be fun to do them in a skirt, so I grabbed a pair of capris to change into. I also wasn't sure what my lunch plans were going to be so I also picked up my book. It didn't really sound fun to jam them in the grocery sack that I pack my lunch in every day, so I picked up one of my bags to take instead. I shoved everything inside, zipped it up and headed out the door.

I had meant to call my sister the night before to discuss plans for meeting on Wednesday but hadn't gotten around to it. As I walked from the parking garage to my building I was conversing freely with her, all the way up to my desk. I logged into my computer and set my bag down on the desk.

I was dismayed and terrified to discover an uninvited stowaway! Just after I set it down, a spider dashed out and ran across my desk. Because I was on the phone and because I was so startled, I didn't have the presence of mind to smash it before it disappeared. I quickly ended my conversation with my sister and then I turned into an irrational girl. (As a side note, I live in the basement of my home and have become adept at killing spiders. For some reason if I'm around someone else who can do it for me, suddenly I can't do it myself.) I had developed an irrational fear of my desk at work!

I quickly walked over to the other side of my cube wall to ask my co-worker to come find the spider and kill it for me. I was amused to discover he's actually more scared of them than I am and instead another female friend came over to do the deed.

Now, I have accepted the idea that I live in the basement and must deal with the spiders there, but work is officially a no-spider zone. Therefore, I was feeling so violated that a spider had dared to take up residence there, even if it was a temporary, uninvited residence. Each seemingly harmless item on my desk--stapler, tape dispenser, card file, binder, notebook, cell phone holder--all became the enemy that may or may not be housing a fugitive! Terrible when your own office supplies suddenly turn against you!

My friend picked carefully through each item and searched around my whole desk, but that darn thing was nowhere to be found. She apologized and left a wad of Kleenex in my cube window, just in case. I was terrified to sit down, afraid that stinkin' spider would come running out as soon as I did. All my movements were reserved and tentative at first (which really sucks when you're trying to tie everything up so you can leave on vacation the next day!) but eventually I found my way into my work groove and all was well.

The stowaway was never found. I hope I don't come back to work on Monday and find my desk covered in cobweb. Now that would be disturbing!

Farewell to good friends and a journey into honorary aunthood

So, I'm hoping I had you all in stitches after reading about my bird poop and TRAX incidents. I meant to write a stellar follow-up to my last post, but, alas, this week turned out to be far busier than I had anticipated. However, it was a good sort of busy, meaning it was filled with worthwhile activities. I've done too many entries that equate to a run-down of my week, so I don't want to do that again. Instead I'll give you highlights.


On Thursday, I had a farewell dinner for a good friend of mine who is heading to law school. She has been a wonderful friend for about two years now, and I'm sad to see her go. I know that she's not going to be far away (only about 45 minutes), but I also know (from watching another friend of mine) that the first year of law school is incredibly busy, so I don't know that we'll be able to get together very often. I told her if she ever needs a break from the "zoobies", as He-Man likes to call them, she's always welcome to come stay at my house, even if she has to study the whole time. I'm going to call her Elle. (If you don't know where that comes from, you'll have to ask me.)

Here's a picture of me with Elle.


Here's He-Man and Elle. He's been her home teacher for awhile, so it was nice that he was able to come to our little farewell dinner. Mind you, this was very informal, and if I would've thought about it in advance, I would have had a farewell party for her. Oops!

Now to change gears--here's some highlights of my trip into honorary aunthood.

You may be wondering just what I mean by "honorary aunthood." I will do my best to explain. I have many friends who have bitten the dust, taken the plunge or, in other words, tied the knot. Some friends fall into obscurity after they marry, but others remain good friends. Such is the case with this friend. She has been one of my dearest friends ever since I moved to Utah. And even after getting married and having two children, she remains one of my closest friends, almost like another sister. That means her two children are my honorary niece and nephew. :)

Yesterday I took a trip to her house to help her watch her kids during a project. The weather wasn't ideal for said project so we ended up just hanging out and taking her kids to the train museum instead. Here are a few pictorial highlights.

Here's little A on one of the train cars.

Knock, knock. Is anyone home?

Mommy with baby I. Isn't she beautiful?

I climbed up on the front of the train and she handed A to me. I know I have short legs, but it was higher up than I thought, and he was scared. I still thought it was worth it. though.

Here's mommy with both children.

A was more interested in the rocks than the trains, quite honestly. Yes, he is not only showing that he's a boy but also his age.

Look at those trains! Pretty cool huh!

Beautiful Baby I!!

Ride 'em cowboy! Here's A on the back of one of the many horses decorating the downtown of the city we were in. I think it was for their Pioneer Days celebration, but I don't know for sure.

I had no idea I was going to make A's day by giving him this to play with on the way home. He was so entertained! Can you see his tongue peeking through? :)

The Great Bird Poop Incident of 2009

It's been a crappy day.

I wish I could say I meant that figuratively, but I am speaking quite literally, as you will find out below. It seems my Mondays are starting to suck not just because it's Monday but because I am having adventures. You may not think I can top the TRAX incident from last week, but I'm pretty sure this one does.

Today was a lovely day. As such, I thought it sounded like a great idea to eat outside in the Plaza. My very dear Smirk consented to go with me.

I've eaten in the Plaza many times before both in the shade and in the sun without having any problems, but such was not going to be the case today. I was minding my own business while eating my lunch when I felt a plop as something fell in my hair. Horrified at what I was pretty sure it was, I reached my fingers up to feel it and discovered that my suspicions were correct: a bird had pooped on my head!! UGH!!!

I was completely disgusted and turned my head to the side so Smirk could see how bad the damage was. I would say a nice white surprise was in my hair, but it wasn't pleasant at all. I tried to enjoy the rest of my lunch and conversation with Smirk, but I found my mind wandering back to the thought that a bird had just pooped on my head!!! What are the odds of that happening? But then again, how many people do you know who have gotten stuck on TRAX?

Soon the time arrived for us to return to work, but the best part of this story is yet to come. Almost as soon as we returned to our floor, we ran into the Fashionista. Thinking she would sympathize, I quickly told her what had happened, and she started laughing so hard I was afraid she was going to choke. Every time she looked at me, she started laughing again.

She did help me clean the unfortunate mess out of my hair as best she could, which I appreciated, but then she felt the need to tell everyone we came into contact with what had happened. And, yes, I did take this in stride and laughed along with everyone I was forced to tell, even when that meant relating the entire story during our weekly team meeting. It did provide great comic relief many in what is normally a rather boring meeting.

All I can say is at least I was able to laugh at myself by the end of the day so when the Fashionista prodded me to tell two more people, including someone who will surely relate the story to many other people and the boss of our whole department, at least I could laugh at myself. * Sigh *

So you see I really did mean it when I said it's been a crappy day. . .