Mwhhahhahhaha.
I'm like a bird. I wanna fly away.
I wish I were more like a dolphin though. I'd flop away.
Newwwwwest update. You can do photobooth at the dollar theater... Well great news about this
THEY have dolphin borders. Almost peeed my pants when I discovered that gem.

Ok. Yesterday one of my sweeeetest girls comes up to me and says:
Miss Shepherd my mom wants to know how old you are.

I reply... 23.

She says: Great. Ha didn't think anything more of it.

Lunch time today that same little girl, her best friend and the little girl's sister comes into my classroom and they all say: We need to talk to you.
Talk to me? HA ok... What about girls?

Well.....(All of them at this point have the biggest smiles on their faces) They say: "We have this guy that works with my dad and he's so funny and we've been telling him about you and WELL we want you to date him"
She then goes on to say... "My mom even showed him your teacher picture. HA
(Ew... my teacher picture)
And he liked it."
HA they were SO SO SO excited to tell me this.
It sounds like their parents might be in on it as well. Well
that's that. More to come about that story later.

Tonight I went on a date. We hit up the local dinosaur museum... brushed off some fossils.... played in the sandy water pit with toy dinos and then checked out the fossils....... typical. (Well not really... just weird... but enjoyable if I were into it)
 Let's rewind a bit to my life, or lets say everyone's lives. You finally get a moment to rest after a long day of thinking and doing and then next thing you have to do is do again. Well I guess that's what blind dates or shall we say 1st dates have become to me.
                                 Just go and DO.


 Maybe it's a time for a shift in the attitude.... but SIGH AHHH BLA I quite frankly think 1st dates take more energy then I have. This is a tough tough topic though. Because as much as I hate first dating... I also understand the necessity of it.  CLEARLY I'll never find the so called "one" without a first date.

I come home from teaching and I'm honestly ready to not think or have to try. YOU cannot do that on a first date...
 A)if you want to impress them then you can't just be the bum on a log that you want to be after a long day... and then after your effort sometimes it doesn't play out for you.
B) If you aren't interested, well in my case, I hate making people feel bad or unimportant so I make sure that I am putting forth my best effort to help the date along. WELL either case it takes energy, thought and sometimes it all feels fake. not real.

Well while I was laying here in bed I get a text from a friend who has this thing about dating called dating in the major leagues. Finding the marriage material. He text me and asked if my date was in the major leagues. I sighed. Made my remark of him just being nice and in response he said... Next time.

Next time. ha Next time next time next time........ I responded. YEAH Next time. And I said same for you.
He said in response: I'm Tired of next time.

What do we do when we're tired of next time? ha well my dating friends. I think that is part of dating life. It's called patience and perseverance. We've gotta continue with those next times.
I don't know if next time is it for me. Or the next.... NEXT or maybe the 30th next. I do know though that as we choose to live life according to the will of our father and trust him through this journey with a smile and a positive attitude... he will grant next time to us.... but along the path he will be strengthening us and preparing us for the absolute BEST next time if we allow him to.
DO NOT GIVE UP HOPE. and trust me..... I understand the blurrrrrrrrry image in the dating world and how annoying next time can be.

"May we remember these ABCs as we begin our journey into the new year, cultivating a positive attitude, a belief that we can achieve our goals and resolutions, and the courage to face whatever challenges may come our way. Then the abundant life will b.e ours."

Attitude.
Believing.     =ABUNDANT Life.
Courage.


ThankYou president Monson for teaching me how to live the abundant life.

I have honestly learned throughout my life how beneficial a positive attitude is to my outlook on life. I have found that I can have the greatest joy in life no matter what is going on, as long as I'm choosing to look at my situation with a positive attitude.


Something amazing that I fail to realize in my life at times is that we have the blessing of being able to speak to the most powerful being in the universe daily and to go to an all knowing God with our problems, concerns or fears... and yet we often choose to solve our problems on our own or by taking them to the world and solving them with worldly things. DUH why not have the being who loves us beyond imagine and who has all control take care of me and guide me. It just takes a little faith and big blessings and miracles will happen.