oh haiiii

Why hello blogosphere! It's been a long while. Muh bad! Lot's has happened the last few months! I've seen and experienced new things as of late, like tacos al pastor and 110 foot skyscrapers. That's right! I went to Chicago AND Mexico! I had so much fun this summer! I feel so blessed to have been able to go on these wonderful trips and spend time with some of the greatest people I know. 

Before Chicago I got to spend time with my family in Colorado! Love them! I love my Aunt Jessica, Uncle Mike and their BEAUTIFUL (and I mean b-e-a-utiful) girls!

I went to Chicago with Sarah, Dave and Ryan. So happy they invited me!

SOOO glad we were here the weekend of Taste of Chicago! You spend $8=12 tickets and you go around to different food booths/vendors and get fooooood! A big fat food fair? My kinda party. The picture below is some DELICIOUS fried ravioli-mmmm mmm tastey town!

Buckingham Fountain

SkyDeck (see the lovely grandma sock? I got a stress fracture the week before... cool? no. not at all)

At Giordano's waiting for the GREATEST stuffed pizza I've ever had (Ok, the only stuffed pizza I've ever had)

Navy Pier 

Foot Massages on the Metra

Chicago, IL Temple (more on the LDS religion here)

Went to a Cubs game at the infamous Wrigley Field! Guess who they were playing?

The AZ Diamondbacks! Definitely a perk. 

Getting ready to hop on the "L". 

Cloud Gate aka THE BEAN!

Navy Pier Ferris Wheel

Check out the Beautiful Chicago Skyline

Gorgeous I tell you! One of the highlights of the trip was most definitely the architecture tour. 

The other highlight?.... 

...Seeing SUE the largest, most complete T-Rex skelly in the world! The Field Museum was

 UH-MAZING! I loved every second spent there! Its official, I love museums!

Oh and I love dinosaurs. They're sweeeeet!

This is Sue's real head. It was too heavy to be displayed with the body. So cool!

Dave was a wonderful camera man.... We literally have hundreds of pictures of buildings! The architecture and history of Chicago is very cool. Did you know it's called the "Windy City" because of its long-winded politicians? Also it's FREAKING expensive to live there, especially river front property.  

Mexico was great too.  It was like 100* with 100% humidity, aka disgusting! But I stayed in my swimmy suit all day err'day, so it was doable. Highlights: resort right on the beach, tacos, shopping, paletas, tacos, relaxing on the hammocks, burritos the size of your arm, phase 10 in the fort, paletas, pina coladas by the pool side.... Oh heck the whole trip was a highlight! Loved every minute!

Other quick updates: My BFF Michelle left on her mission. My sister will be home in 9 months (half-way baby)! Mary graduated and is now in beauty school at EAC. My brother Will is at EAC.  That means only 4 kiddos left in mi madres house. Cuh-razy!

To Whom It May Concern

Today has been one of those days that I'm sure 93% of single girls get every once in awhile...

One of those "Wow I'm really depressed that I'm still single and not even remotely close to dating anyone.... I want to eat all that I can possibly fit in muh bellah and watch depressing movies like 'P.S. I Love You' or 'Charly'... This week I'm going to the gym 5 times and washing my hair more than 3 times and eating one salad a day so I feel like a desirable woman even though 24 hours ago I felt totally fine... What is wrong with me?" kind of days....


Maybe its the fact that I have had a recent list of 15+ Facebook reception/bridal shower/baby shower invites. Maybe its the fact that 4 couples stood up in church to announce their recent engagements. Maybe its because I watched Zac Efron on the big screen yesterday in "The Lucky One" and the whole time wished I was Taylor Schilling. Maybe its the fact that I really haven't dated anyone seriously in... way too long.... Maybe its hormones. 


Regardless what the cause is, today I really dislike the Single Life. Tomorrow I'm sure I'll go back to normal... just living life and not complaining. But for now I'm going to wallow in self pity, eat a bowl of Blue-Bell Moolenium Crunch ice cream (our household favorite) and live vicariously through the life of some fictional heroine, like Elizabeth Bennet. 


As for the title of the post... This song by the Civil Wars is a favorite... mostly because it applies to me and every other single woman out there...


To Whom It May Concern by The Civil Wars

Why are you so far from me?
In my arms is where you ought to beHow long will you make me wait?I don't know how much more I can takeI missed youBut I haven't met youOh but I want toHow I doSlowly counting down the daysTill I finally know your nameOoo the way your hand feels round my waistThe way you laughThe way your kisses tasteI missed youBut I haven't met youOh but I want toHow I do, How I doI've missed youBut I haven't met youOh I missed youI haven't met youOh but I want toOh how I want toDear whoever you might beI'm still waiting patiently. 

Um I love them! And despite my current state of impatience, I 98% of the time I am waiting patiently for my one and only. The guy who will accept every flaw, appreciate all my quirks and bad habits, love me unconditionally for eternity and who will raise me up when I get down. Whether its in this life (crosses fingers) or the next, I have faith in the Lord's timing. It will happen when it is suppose to. I'm grateful for all that I have; I am truly blessed!



P. S. Totally different topic... But my 3 year old sister told her Primary teachers that she didn't need to be in class last week when they were learning about the Resurrection. When they asked her why, she said her Daddy died and she already knew that he would come back to life again. Wow! So all those times she would ask where he was and we'd explain it, she was listening! The Gospel is true!

Movin On

Hey so guess what? I moved out! Finally-right? I've moved in with some of the greatest girls around! I'm thrilled to be here. It's a smokin' deal and in a great location-not too far from home and still close to everyone I love. I know, I know, I probably won't be able to move far away for awhile... Probably not til I'm either 1-married or 2-28+ and still single. (I figure I'll give good ol' AZ another 5-6 years before I try another highly populated LDS singles location-like DC or dare I say it... UT). My hopes are that I can stay here forever while I'm single. And if that means I literally will be here forever because I'm not meant to marry in this lifetime-so be it. Ok I'm rambling. I'm done now.

Anyway so I love living here! I'm hoping I'll be better at exercising/eating healthy.... so far... eh... not doing so well. But I've only been officially here for like... 5 days. And I've still got some organizing to do. I'll probably do more exercising/eating healthy when I have time to sit down and plan meals and such. For now I'll stick to my Moo-lenium Crunch ice cream and homemade cilantro hummus. Both of which are healthy.

I love my family! I love my friends! I am really lovin' life!

PS please keep my precious old dog in your prayers... I know... silly. BUT he turns 11 this month and he's been sick. We don't know what he has, because we are too poor to take him to a vet, and at this point its not really worth it since he's so old. He has what appears to be a tumor and/or abscess on the side of his face, he smells really bad and he coughs/sneezes blood. =( Our poor Hoss! We plan on putting him down, but we don't have the emotional strength/don't want to put him down while he's still moving, eating, wagging his tail when we call his name and not really showing that he's in pain. We are praying that we will know when the time is right...

K thanks bye!

RESTORE AMERICA

So sometimes I get super pumped about politics... With primaries around the corner, I can't help but put my two cents in. We HAVE to exercise our right to vote! And we should do our part by doing a little research. Watch the presidential debate from tonight. Read the Constitution of the United States of America. The Preamble states: 

We the people in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and ensure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our prosperity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. 

I typed that out by heart (thank you to School House Rock). The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution for our benefit. It gives us our freedom peeps!

That being said... PLEASE read up on Ron Paul for HE IS THE DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION! 

For realz... He is one of few politicians who sticks to his guns and doesn't flip flop. If you're ever curious as to how he would vote on certain issues, just ask yourself if it supports the Constitution? He is my hero and hands down my favorite candidate! I hope you all put faith in your votes! Every vote counts!!! 

GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!! LET FREEDOM RING!!!!!

ok I'll get off my political soap box and go to bed... =)

Letter from Dad

Since I'm moving out soon (oh I don't think I've mentioned that... well I'm moving out hopefully in a month... anyway...) I decided to go through a box full of letters I've saved over the years. Most of them are from missionaries, some from friends or cousins, sweet notes from YW leaders... Then I found one letter from my Dad. It's not dated, so I have no idea when he wrote it. But I'll have you know he didn't write very many notes to me. My mom wrote a lot in behalf of my dad and herself, but this letter was written to me from him. Don't worry I cried. And I'm still crying. It's been 6 months and I miss him just as much as if it were yesterday.

Thank heavens I could still read it (despite the water damage... oh and don't mind the big fat tear stain).

It reads: 

"Dear Tori, 

     I just want to let you know how special you are to me. yes I know I never tell you often enough but I'm going to change that. 

     Tori you are the most driven child we have. When you wake up your mind to do something you make it happen. This will help you go far in life and makes me feel great as a father too. 

     Now of course you are beautiful and smart, you get this from me, unless mom is close by, then you better say it comes from her. 

     Tori I'm not just saying this because I'm your father. I hear this from a lot of people. You can do just anything you want. 

     I'm proud to call you 'daughter'. 

Love, Dad "

Now if that's not a tender mercy, I don't know what is! This is the highlight of my day.. probably week. I'm so grateful for the Plan of Salvation and the wonderful Gospel of Jesus Christ! I know I'll see my sweet Dad again. 

For more about my testimony click here. For more about the LDS church click here. 

You want to read a good book? Allow me to recommend...

I have discovered in the last 1.5 years or so that I love reading. There are so many great books out there (fiction and non-fiction) and I'm so grateful for the ability to read them-AND for friends who have the same taste and recommend great books!

You want to read a good book? Allow me to recommend:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

A Novel Written By: Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

"January 1946: Writer Juliet Ashton recieves a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Sociaety. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name." 

(found on the back of the cover)

There are 2 kinds of good books: the kind that you can't put down and the kind that are, for lack of a better word, great, but you can easily walk away to do normal human things like shower or sleep (we won't talk about what I become whenever I read books that I can't put down). 

I just finished a book that falls into the latter category. It was refreshing to be able function while reading a book! It took me a little while to get into it, but totally worth it. 

The characters in this book are fantastic! I want to be friends with them. The writing is superb-I laughed, cried and then laughed again. 

This is probably one of the most vague book reviews you've ever read, but I'm running out of steam haha. In all seriousness, this book is really a great read!  

Oh and I just googled it to get ^ that picture... and guess what? They are making a movie! 2013 and Kate Winslet is playing the heroine- Juliet Ashton. I approve!

Other books I've read within the last year that I recommend: 

*The Help by Kathryn Stockett

*The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt

**Matched  by Allie Condie (just googled apparently Disney bought the rights to make a movie out of it)

Crossed by Allie Condie (2nd book in Matched trilogy)

*****Hunger Games Series (if you haven't read these... what's your problem?) by Suzanne Collins

**Divergent by Veronica Roth

Austenland by Shannon Hale

*=great book
**=freaking couldn't put it down!
*****=my favorite!
no star=good

2011 Summed Up

2011 was a good year. It may have been great if certain events hadn't occurred, but hey they did... so ya...

I can't say that it was a terrible year because of it either-because some pretty dang awesome things happened as well.

Here is a summary of the year-one big event per month...

January- went to a cabin with my family. It was the first vacation we had had in quite some time. It was so much fun to play in the snow! I loved it SO much! We played in the snow and just hung out in a cute little cabin. Seriously it was fantastic!

February- I started my final semester of dental hygiene school! Um... Yay!

March- I took my first (and somewhat most intense) board exam-anesthesia! For those of you who don't know... basically you have to shoot someone up with anesthetic while a few board examiners in white jackets hover over you and watch. Scary stuff. However, my Dad gave me a blessing that I will be calm, and I was! I had a very steady hand and my mom was a great patient. I thought I failed at first, but then I didn't... It was awesome!

April-I took 2 of my written boards... Longest tests ever! Left the exams thinking... "Uh... crap?!" Obviously it turned out fine-I just didn't know for a couple weeks.

May- Um freak! I took my clinical board. I was so scared my patient wouldn't qualify, but he did and I got 100% (not to brag or anything)! Then I took my jurisprudence and passed it... Then I freaking GRADUATED! Hellz ya! (excuse my french)

June- I got my license and started working! I survived my first day! The peeps I worked for had NO idea I had just graduated! That's definitely a compliment!

July- OH JULY! So much good came out of July and then at the very end of the month it made a 180... So July... First I went to CA w/Darlene, Marshelle, and Cait for the 4th... It was a lot of fun! However, I remember feeling like I shouldn't go, but went anyway... I wasn't sure why until a few weeks later when my Dad died and I realized that would have been the last holiday together... except I wasn't there. It's hard to say that Heavenly Father knew that things were going to go down that He didn't want.... But... I don't know... That's the only reason I feel like I would have had that feeling not to go.... Anyway that same week I took another spontaneous trip to California w/Michelle. It was one of the best trips ever! We were watching SYTYCD and decided... hey lets get in the car and go to San Diego (her mom and brother were there, so we figured we'd meet up with them). It was a freaking BLAST! We rolled in around 2am. Played the whole next day (on Coronado Island l<3ve it) and drove home the morning after. That day I went with my Dad to talk cars w/Dad's client Frank who was an independent car broker... And one thing led to another... I bought my beautiful red Toyota Matrix! You read about it here. Then just a couple weeks later, I had one of the greatest days at work... It was a Friday, I worked with my friends Kaija and Teresa, cleaned a VERY cute guys teeth... we had good conversation while waiting for the exam... he was seriously dreamy... Of course everything was kept professional, it was just nice to talk to a super attractive guy! It was such a great day... until the drive home when Mary called and told me what happened... Then everything just kinda went crazy in my head... thinking "No way..." "Please don't be dead" "There's no way he actually did it" That was the longest ride home of my life... trying to keep my eyes clear so I could actually see while driving... Trying to not go into hysterics while attempting to process the words that Mary said... Very bluntly stating that that my dad had shot himself...  Gee how can anyone take those words in and drive home safely? Poor Mary wasn't thinking... really how could any of us be thinking straight after hearing news like that? I finally got home and saw the billions of cop cars in front of my house and the huddle of cops standing in a circle in front of my door... and every strain of hope was gone... even though I still had to ask my mom for sure if he was gone...  Haha sorry I watched Grey's Anatomy last night, and it tugged on my heart strings, specifically the ones that are attached to my dad. Anyway... so that was July.

August- Uh... Dad's funeral? August was pretty blah.

September- Went to California w/my siblings y mi madre. It was a great trip! We went to the beach and spent time with the Brewer family. It was fantastic-just what the doctor ordered.

October- General Conference. Got my Droid X2. Went to Las Vegas with some of the greatest people I know (Sarah, Dave and Brian) and saw the Lion King (FANTASTIC show btw). Sent Deborah on her mission! HALLOWEEN: greatest costume ever+the best haunted house experience (AZ scream park with no lines and great friends)=awesome Halloween!!

November- went to UT for my beautiful cousins wedding, turned 22, went to DISNEYLAND w/the fam (such a blast), and THANKSGIVING: everyone was in town on my moms side w/the exception of my Utah cousins, but I got to see them early in the month so it was ok... It was such a great Thanksgiving!

December- worked, worked, worked, and worked some more... Dance concerts, Sarah's fancy dinner party, Wadsworth family Christmas Party, Blewster Family Christmas Party, CHRISTMAS (Christmas Eve my uncle rented a party bus and we all drove around looking at Christmas lights, got to talk to Deborah... read Hunger Games... It was Fantastic!)...

NEW YEARS EVE: was great! Spent it with great friends playing games and eating. What more could you need? Seriously it was great!

I feel like year, 2012, is going to treat me well! Here is what I'm excited for!

January 13th- Beauty and the Beast in THEATERS! Wow.. Just a week away. I'm so thrilled!
March 23rd- HUNGER GAMES hits theaters! Seriously!? I can't even... I'm just... UGH! STOKED!
April-Conference! AND hopefully (crossing fingers) I'll be moving out!
Summer/Fall-ish... Putting a stamp on my passport!?
December- The Hobbit! Definitely dressing up as an elf... or maybe a hobbit. It will be grand.

And throughout the year I plan on dating a lot... aka... I plan on putting myself out there more and hopefully getting dates in return...

Sorry for the long post! I guess towards the end there I couldn't pick just one thing/month... too many cool things happened from OCT-DEC. I'm really excited for this year! Lots of good came out of last year. I grew a lot in several ways. But. This year. I will grow even more and its going to be good! I feel it in my bones!