Trek

Let's face it. I officially suck at blogging! So many great things have happened in my five month absence! Oh well. I knew it would be hard for me to actually document the things going on in my life!

About a week and a half ago I had the opportunity to go on Trek with the youth from my stake out here in Virginia. My cousin, Matt and I were sitting in church when it was announced that there was a need for more "Ma's and Pa's" to help out with the excursion. Neither of us had been on Trek before, so we figured it would be a really fun time! I thought it would be a really good thing for me to do and I also wanted to share the experience with my little sister, Lana. Luckily, she and one of her best friends were placed in my group! Matt and I had awesome kids in our family. They all had such cute personalities and I really enjoyed being with them for a few days!

Of course going on Trek made me think about all the sacrifices the pioneers made. I could barely handle the 48 or so hours of running around in a long skirt, bloomers, an apron, and a long-ish sleeved shirt in the hot sun! It was a little rough for someone who spends most of her time indoors! I don't think I've ever been more sweaty or dirty. I really became one with nature for a few days! Needless to say, I was ready to come home. To think about my ancestors who made the journey out West so many years ago was a very humbling experience. I feel so blessed to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My life is so easy and I really have no room to complain about anything! I'm really glad that I went and I hope the kids who were in my group had a great experience as well. Until next time,

Melinda Anne

23

     So today was my twenty-third birthday! I can't believe I'm that old already... the years have flown by! In a way, I still feel like I'm seventeen! I also feel like I should be more mature and prepared for life than I actually am.

    Today was a pretty dang good day. I got to go out to lunch with Alesa and Zach to an Indian restaurant that I really like. My cousin, Matt, also took me out for some gelato! He had one of the servers light a candle and put it in to the cup and then they sang Happy Birthday to me! It was so sweet. Today is also my little brother, Adam's, birthday. So I have to give a little shout out to the boy who stole the show from me twenty-one years ago! Right now he is serving a mission in Seattle. I miss him so much and can't wait to give him a great big hug and say happy birthday to him in person next year! (Or at least over the phone :) )

    I loved all the birthday calls/texts/messages I got from my friends and family today! It made me miss everyone back home a lot! I'm so blessed to have so many awesome people in my life. I feel so grateful to have so many people care about me. Tonight I did a little thinking about my actual birth, how significant of an event it was, and how my life has turned out as a result. Twenty-three years ago Alesa gave birth to me after a pretty difficult pregnancy. After all that hard work, she turned me over to my mom and dad who had waited for me for quite some time. Alesa didn't even get to meet my family and didn't know when or if she would ever see me again. So, it's quite crazy to be living with her right now! I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to meet her and am so happy that we are so close. Having her and her entire family involved in my life is incredible! I already had an awesome family, so to have been blessed with two families is just amazing!

  Now that I am getting old enough to have children of my own, I realize how hard it would be to give a baby up. I also understand how difficult it would be to not be able to have children of my own. My moms are the most amazing people I know! Both have overcome many difficult things in this life and have been great examples to me of what a faithful, determined woman should be like. I hope that with each year I get older I can become more and more like they are! Thanks everyone for such a great birthday! Until next time,

Melinda Anne

Change

So...i've been in Arlington for a little over a week now! I decided to move back here for several reasons...being that:

A. There are probably more options in Washington D.C. for the type of career I want to pursue.

B. I wanted to take the opportunity spend more time with my birth-mom and her family (The Allens). 

C. I didn't want to stay in Logan or Tooele.

D. I basically just needed to change it up.

     So far things have been pretty good. I've been having a lot of fun with the fam. It's actually been a crazy week, because it has been snowing like crazy! It's funny to see how people act when it snows here. It's like the world is ending. The snowstorm we got last weekend was supposed to be the biggest since 1922. Rumors flew about how much snow we were going to get. I think we ended up with about 23 inches at our house. The kids have been out of school since Friday and there is a possibility they will have the whole week off, since we are expecting more snow tonight and this weekend. Pretty much everything closes down when it snows. So we've all just been chillin.

     As you can see, my car will probably be stuck in front of the house for quite some time. It's even more buried now that we've dug the other cars out. The snow goes up to my knees...and there's only more to come!

     I've been working for my birth-madre's husband while I try to find a good job. I should probably be trying harder, because that's one of the main reasons I came out here. (Refer to letter "A" above.) Of course, it probably doesn't help that the government has and will be closed until who knows when. George owns a business making software and computer stuff that I don't know one thing about. I've been "ingesting" tapes for the Army and the Navy. It's pretty legit. I think the best way to describe ingesting is to say that it  means converting VHS tapes and putting the videos on them onto a hard drive. Needless to say...I've seen some pretty interesting stuff. But anywho...that's it for now. Hopefully someday it will actually stop snowing so that I can actually go to church, or institute, or anywhere to meet some new peeps! But I am content for now. Until next time,

Melinda Anne