From Piglet to Mexico

This is me and my good friend Ben, watching Winnie the Pooh when we were 2 or 3.

Ben is my best and oldest friend. Yesterday I had the great opportunity to attend his mission farewell. For certain reasons I knew I wasn't going to make it on time, and I was getting worried. But I ended up getting to the church just in time to hear the last 3 minutes of his talk, and I'm so happy I even got to hear that. As soon as I sat down and listened to him speak, I was automatically filled with the Spirit. I knew that he has been called of God to go on a mission and serve the people of central Mexico. He spoke of serving people and sharing the gospel, and when he started talking about his wonderful family, I began to tear up. I've known him and his family for just about my whole life and everything he said was true. He has such a great testimony. I'm sad I won't see him for two years, but it will be just fine. He enters the MTC on Wednesday morning.




I wish you the best of luck Elder Buxton! You, your family, and the Mexican people will be greatly blessed!

The Mysterious Birthday Package

Everyday last week, my mother would ask me if I'd gotten the mail that day. She was really excited because apparently she and my dad had sent me something for my birthday. She even told em that I had to take lots of pictures and do a whole blog on it. I thought that was really strange because for one, why on earth would she get so excited about a card, and two, she NEVER sends cards. Ever. Except for the occasional Christmas card. So I would just tell her that nothing had come from her that day and move on. On one of those days, my Dad (who now has Facebook) wrote on my wall and said,

"Happy Birthday, Baby! The pink boots are long gone, but I hope you like the other pink thing you're getting."

WHAT?! So apparently it was pink. Pink...it could be anything. But I highly doubted my parents would give me a hint about a card. That's kind of lame. I had a guess as to what it would be, but I didn't want to get my hopes up, so I pushed that thought out of my mind.

On Saturday the 7th, I went to work from 9-5. Obviously the mail hadn't come yet when I was getting ready for work, since I left before 8:30 in the morning. So I worked and kind of forgot about it. Then I got home that evening and this sweet little package was sitting on the kitchen table for me. I got really excited. I then was supposed to meet up with some friends for my birthday dinner at Pizza Factory. So I brought it along with me because my sister was going to be there and I knew she knew what it was, and she would want to see me open it and take pictures.

There it is, the one on the left.

Hmm...what could be in there? There is definitely more than a card.

I pulled out a beautiful card that my dad picked out. He did a good job. There was also a couple pairs of St. Patrick's Day-type socks, super cute with shamrocks all over. The kicker was when I pulled out three iTunes gift cards. That was the big hint. Was it what I had hoped it was?

After pulling out the last pair of socks, and seeing that one of them had a big, rectangular bulge in it, I knew it was what I thought it was...

My super sweet new pink iPod!

I got my first one for my 17th birthday, but it's been acting stupid and since it was a 4 GB, I couldn't fit all my music on it. So I asked for one for Christmas, but didn't get it. So I was really excited to find that my parents had sent me one for my birthday. Thank you, Mom and Dad! I love it. And you, of course.

And I just want to give another little shoutout to my mom. She has been living in the States since she was 6 and never did become a citizen...until now! She just passed her citizenship test this week! She worked so hard, and I'm really proud and happy for her.