Disney World

Exactly two years ago I was a scared and lost soul arriving in Orlando, Florida.  I can't believe it has been two whole years!

Doing the Disney college internship had been an idea in my head for a few years since my sister Olivia had done it and raved about how much fun she had doing it.  This idea didn't become reality though until Derick got his mission call.  I became panicked at the idea of being stuck in Logan without him so I made sure to do exactly what needed to be done.   Being accepted was a whole lot easier than I thought it would be.  The acceptance process consisted of going to an orientation, taking a survey online, and then -- if passing the survey, a phone interview to find out what role you would be receiving.  A few weeks after the phone interview I received my acceptance email telling me I would be working in Quick Service food and Beverage.  I would be leaving the second sunday of February until the middle of August. I would be leaving 6 weeks after Derick, which was perfect.

At the orientation.  Olivia was a recruiter for Disney.

I was a little nervous to be moving across the country all by myself, but I knew I would be alright.  My sister Jillian had decided to do the internship also and she had left a month before me since she was only doing the one until May.  She told me all the advice she could think of about transportation and what would be happening once I got where I needed to be.  I figured if Jillian could do it then I could do it.  

To say I had nothing but fun while I was there would be a lie.  I'll admit, more times than not I got so homesick to the point where i seriously considered coming home.  I even looked up plane tickets a few times.  I am glad I always talked myself out of it because once I got over the culture shock and used to working 50 hours a week I grew to love my experience there.   I worked at Columbia Harbor House which was the best location to work at.  I am not biased.  I happen to know it was a very good location to work due to being deployed to 3 different locations during my internship.  The best way to describe these other locations would be to say they were Satan's armpit.  The guests were meaner than usual (which is SO scary. Hungry guests, standing in the sun all day, spending more money than they have.. who can blame them?) I guess something about CHH lightened their moods a little, the managers seemed to not care less about the cast members, the cast members weren't as fun, and these locations were busy to the point where you felt like a chicken running around with it's head cut off.  I don't think I appreciated my job until I got deployed, though, so I am glad it happened! But 3 times?? and 3 different locations? that was a little over the top but I guess it was supposed to happen!  I loved my location.  Everyone, for the most part, got along so well and we were always laughing about something.  The building was by far the coolest out of all the restaurants in Magic Kingdom, and it wasn't near as busy as the rest.  

I was lucky enough to have 5 sane roommates. I have heard of many horror stories and I really was blessed to be roomed with the girls I was.  It took me awhile to step out of my shell and get to know them but once I got comfortable there I grew to love them, even when we did sometimes have our differences.  Living in an apartment with 6 girls we were bound to have a little "drama" as you must say, but it all made for some funny stories in the end.

Me with two of my roommates at the Mardi Gras Party

Me and Jillian weren't able to see each other too much but
the days we were able to get together until May were definitely
my favorite.

Jill came to visit me at work. Great uniform, right?

All of my roommates minus Marissa

My favorite week, by far was the week my family came down to visit.  They came down on mother's day and stayed 7 days.  I love my family!  We spent an entire week breaking ribs from laughing too hard.  We definitely played hard and didn't have a single wasted second.  I was sad to see them go especially because Jillian was going home with them.  I was suddenly all alone.  The two weeks following their visit were definitely my hardest.  I had never been so homesick in my life! 

I always got stuck sitting by a stranger. I wasn't too
thrilled.

Me, and Rach at the beach

Once again, I am so glad I decided to stick out my journey in Florida.  My sister Rachel and her husband, Derrek, came down to visit me for my birthday in June and I was convinced I was going to go back with them to live in Alabama.  Rachel talked me out of it saying I had come so far and I only had 2 months to go.  I would end up regretting it.  She was very right.  I think their visit was exactly what I needed to get back on my feet again.  I wish I had spent my entire time there the way I had spent my last 2 months.  They were so much fun.  I made more friends during those two months than I did during the first 4.  I got to know my roommates a whole lot better, and I spent more time having fun than sleeping and feeling sorry for myself.  

Derrek, Rachel, and I at Sea World on my birthday.

In June, right after Rachel and Derrek left, I met my best friend at Disney.  The answer to my prayers. His name is Brandon Morrel and he is a straight up riot!  We made the best of every day at work and made sure to always have fun.  I can't even begin to think of all of the funny inside jokes we have together.  

July went by in a blur.  I had too much fun, and not enough sleep but I loved every single second of it.  I was anxious to get back home but I am glad I can say I didn't completely take my experience for granted. Come August I had to start saying goodbye to all the friends I had made.  It was hard to do because I don't know when or if I will ever see any of them again.  Thank goodness for Facebook! 

Moving to Florida was exactly what I needed in my life.  It helped me grow in so many ways, and it definitely kept me busy for the first 8 months of Derick being gone :) 

Rosetta and Alli's 21st birthday

Brandon's goodbye note :)

Disney Graduation

Good times spent in this apartment

A small portion of my friends I made while I was there

Recap

One would think I am having a pretty boring day seeing as this is my second blog post, but one would be thinking wrong! This entire weekend has been busy busy busy. I have been on the go the entire time and I have loved every single second of it.
On Friday Me, Derick, and his Mom headed down to west point for the weekend.  Derick's mom was going to a conference down there and Derick had someone from his mission who wanted to meet up with us for lunch around the same area on saturday, so we decided to go down with her! Friday night was a night full of no plans but we managed to make the best of it and live spontaneously for a little. We hung out with 5 of his cousins for awhile and I forgot how much energy little kids have.  They had the cutest puppy whom I wanted to take home with me.  Every single time the dog, Diesel, would jump up on me Luke, the second to youngest, would exclaim "He wants to hold you! He wants to hold you!" In the most excited voice.  I had to explain to him I didn't think the dog could hold me because it was too small but him saying that really was cute enough to melt my heart a little. Kids are great.

Me, Diesel, and Luke

After we had had our dose of children we decided to go out for a night on the town.  We are poor college students with no money so we are always looking for something cheap/free.  He had a gift card for $2 towards Coldstone and I had a $5 off coupon so we, of course, headed there.  We didn't have quite enough coupons for it to cost us nothing but the employee made a mistake with the register he couldn't fix so he told us we would have to deal with getting free ice cream. We love free stuff! No complaining there.

Next, we decided to hit up the Mall.  Sad to say, although I only live an hour away I have never been to this mall.  I always end up going to the one an hour and a half away.  It was pretty decent and I could see myself making a trip there again to get my shop on.  We both left empty handed because, like I said, we are poor, but we had some fun window shopping!

Derick just so happened to Really want to take a picture with me in
front of Victoria's Secret. I'm smart enough to know
exactly what he was up to. 

Derick's best friend from the mission only lives 15 or so minutes away from west point so next up on our agenda was meeting up with him.  He told us to meet him at a rock climbing place which was supposedly very close to where we were. I plugged it into the GPS and it was actually 18 miles away.  Oh well, we drove there anyway.  We get there and leave 5 minutes later to drive to Tanner's house which is.. lets say 25 miles away, in the direction we had just come from.  Extreme back tracking but it was all good.  I could tell Derick was so happy to be reunited with him.  I think they are the definition of bromance.  Hanging out with the two of them kind of makes me feel like the 3rd wheel. Kinda creepy/cute.  We hung out at his house for an hour or two with a bunch of his friends.  It was fun but I started struggling to stay awake so around midnight we decided to call it a night and head back to Derick's Aunt and Uncles.

The next morning we had a late start due to sleeping in and lazing around which is perfectly fine because a little extra sleep was much needed.  At noon we headed out to meet up with Sister Moyes, a lady from Derick's mission who he gotten along with very well.  We ate lunch while he caught up with her, and I got to know her.  It is so much fun meeting people from Derick's mission and hearing even more stories I haven't heard before. 

We really didn't have very many ideas of what to do next.  We decided to go back to the mall where we could hopefully find something to add to Derick's slowly growing wardrobe and a birthday present for his Nephew.  We, once again, left empty handed.  Derick is so picky when it comes to clothes! 

We were sitting at a stop light on our way back to his relatives when all of a sudden we heard a loud smash and our car jolted a little.  We had been rear ended.  Derick immediately got out of the car to see the damage and the lady who had rear ended asked, as if annoyed, if there was any damage. No apologies, nothing. This could make for a great long story but this is already making out to be long so I will do the readers digest version.   Lady has bad attitude so Derick decides to call the cops to file a report.  Shady lady asking for our insurance information when it was her fault could maybe lead to her trying to turn it around on us. Derick would have none of that.  Cop comes and is immediately annoyed with the "bad attitude Lady".  I'm lucky Derick was there because he handled everything perfectly and I am horrible at confrontation. I kept my door locked the entire time because I was scared she would come and start yelling at me.   We eventually got it all taken care of and the cop wrote her a citation for distracted driving, which he normally wouldn't have done, but because of her bad attitude he decided it was best.  

Waiting for the cop to take care of things.  

We eventually got back to pick up his Mom from his grandma's then we hit the road to head back to good ol' cache valley.  We were running a little late due to the fender bender so I had to rush home to do my Little Sister's hair and make up for the sweethearts dance.  I made it just in time and I finished her up just in time to make it to Jackson, Derick's nephew's, 3rd birthday party.  

He was too excited about all the new toys to hold still for a picture

We then met up with a bunch of friends at Winger's.  Winger's two times in one day.. we didn't order anything.  I think that would've been a little too excessive especially considering we had just finished eating at fredrico's.   After everyone was done eating we loaded up our cars and headed to a comedy club.  I can't remember the name of it. Maybe Laugh out Loud? No idea.  But it really was hilarious.  I don't think I have ever laughed so hard. 

Derick had the great idea to appear to be laughing since we were
at a comedy club.  Of course he was the only one who went
all out on it. 

The rest of the night was fun, I won't get into very many details about it though because I don't want this to get extremely lengthy.

Sunday: Super bowl sunday to be exact.  I attended church, went home, and then headed to my dear friend Jenn's 22nd birthday party.  It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately me and Derick were pushed for time so we couldn't stay too long. Happy Birthday, Jenn!! 

Bounce house!

Jenn and Kinslee ice skating

I Mustache you a question.

We went back to Derick's and made some Salsa for the Super Bowl party.  My favorite thing about the super bowl is definitely the food.  I'm pretty sure I ate enough to feed a family of 7.  Also, I am not a huge football fan and I have never had a "team", but I always like to choose a random team to root for and my choice just so happened to win after an extremely intense, close game. Superbowl success.

Derick's old TV conveniently "broke" week of the Super Bowl.
Hello 55" plasma screen. 

I make him give me head scratches

It was a great weekend!

100 mph

My life is moving so fast! Has it really been 3 months since I last posted??
Well, I am here to update everyone on my beautiful life.
(Disclaimer: Now, I realize this post is over the line of somewhat cheesy, but realize I am just going through a very cheesy point in my life right now! )
Derick has now been home for 42 days (has it only been 42?!) and we have yet to go a single day without spending it with each other.. and I have a feeling if we were forced to spend a day without each other we would kind of go through some major withdrawals.  I always thought going a day without seeing him would be a piece of cake now that I have managed to go 2 whole years, but in reality, those 2 years didn't make it easier to be apart. If anything it has made it harder!

Reunited and it feels so good!

When Derick was away I always thought "I bet I won't even realize how much I miss him until I see him again." I was so right! I completely forgot how happy that boy makes me,  how much he can manage to make me laugh, how I can talk to him about every single little thing,  how cute he is, and how nice it feels to be completely comfortable in my skin again!

The week, the month... oh the 4 months before he came home I was ridiculously nervous and now that being reunited is done and over with I wonder why the heck I was such nervous wreck! In fact, now that this whole experience is all done and over with I wonder why I was so sad to see him go in the first place.  If I had told myself that a year ago I would've thought I was an idiot, but really, now that it is done I feel like 2 years of my life never even happened.  We instantly jumped back into where we left off -- well I'll actually be honest with myself, the first few days were a little awkward.  He would flinch if I got somewhat close to him, and one time we were walking outside alone!( how could we??) He started freaking out about "breaking so many rules" you know:

1. being alone with a girl

2. being awake past curfew

ya you get the gist.  Luckily I thought his awkwardness was cute.  The best part about it was, it just showed what a great missionary he had been! The harder the time you have adjusting shows the kind of missionary you were.  He was definitely very focused and out there for all the right reasons! 

We have made so many great memories together and we only have more to come! I am, for the first time in 2 years, 100% content with my life and where it is taking me. :)