meet my late night friends...

I have friends that seem to worship television. They watch hours and hours of television a day. As for me, I could do with it or without it. I do admit that when I arrive home, I turn on the TV. Not because I have a list of shows to watch, but I turn it on for the noise. I like the noise--whether I am cooking dinner, scrapbooking or stamping, cleaning, or just reading--I could say that TV is my family when I am at my condo.

BUT, when it comes to Monday nights and late nights, my television automatically turns to CSI:Miami. (Thank goodness for A&E and their many showings of CSI:Miami). I am hooked!!! I could watch CSI:Miami for hours and hours. In fact, my mom and I had scrapbooked one day to approximately 7 hours of Horatio Caine and we did not get sick of him nor the rest of the cast. In fact, I think Erik (Adam Rodriguez) is completely a hottie. Then, Calleigh (Emily Proctore) is the coolest crime solver. Okay, we would have to add Alexx (Khandi Alexander) and Natalia (Eva Lu Rue) as being pretty awesome crime solvers. I am a tad bit disturbed with by Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo). I can not believe he is not a part of CSI--which makes me a tad bit angry. At least he is on the show being a stupid news reporter--which I think is disturbing. (Not that news reporting is disturbing, but as a CSI agent--come on.)

I think that if I was to do the whole career thing again...I think that I would love to go into this type of forensics. Okay, maybe I would be chicken--it can be scary watching it on television--can you imagine what it is like in real life...as for right now, I will settle for these late night friends!!!

...I am so blessed!

Anyway, today before Sacrament meeting, one of my Laurels (at least she was one my Laurels when I was YW President), Mackenzie, walked in holding a guys hand. When I moved into the ward, I was called as Mia Maid Advisor and Kenzie was one of my Mia Maids. Then, when I was called as YW Presidnet, she became one of my Laurels. I was thinking about all the many different activities we did together. She is one of those amazing young women with whom I learned a lot from. I have watched her grow up.

After Sacrament Meeting, she stood up, turned around and came right over to me. She said, "Sister Gren, I have something to show you." She reaches toward me with her left hand. YES, she had a diamond on it. She then says, "I just had to come and show you first." It was great!! We screamed (in the most reverent way-hee hee) and hugged. Oh, what a great joy it is to have taught some one in Young Women's for so long and see that she has made such a wonderful and righteous choice. She shared with me all the details of his proposal to her. Oh, I am so excited for her. Her fiance then came up and she introduced me to him. It was great!!! But, let me share with you, it is one of those most amazing and gratifying feelings to know that the moments and dedication in being a young women's leader pays off when you see a young women make a righteous choice. Congratulations Mackenzie and THANKS for sharing this day with me.

So, tonight, I had just finished talking on the phone with my Mom when I heard the doorbell ring. I ran down the flight of stairs to get to the door. Since I had my bedroom door shut, I was not sure if that was the first ring or second ring or...you get it! When I opened the door, I was greeted by one of the most darling girl's ever. She brought a HUGE smile and a paper sack.

"HI!" She then hands me a paper sack...

I took the paper sack and it felt warm. At that moment, I knew what it was.... (oh, I got all excited for I knew that I was completely blessed).

Gerb's delicious potato soup!!!

Oh, my, let me tell you how fabulous this soup was! Gerb, you are simply amazing!! Thanks so much for sharing this yummy soup with me. PLUS, thanks for being the kind of friend that makes me feel so blessed and have warm fuzzies all over!! Also, Thanks Kenzie for your sweetness today and CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement!!

Friendship Fudge

On Sunday, we (our Stake Young Women Presidency) had the privilege of teaching one of the wards in our stake. It was great!! We were visiting them for Ward Conference and I thought it was great to be asked to teach. In fact, I love to teach. It is one of those things that I really love to do. I know, call me crazy--I will admit, I am crazy! Anyway, our topic was Friendship & Unity. I was asked to teach the first part--basically, I introduced the topic. I handed out bags of ingredients. Each bag was labeled with the words: Friendship, Teamwork, Prayer, Unity, Commitment, and Service.

We started out with the bag Friendship--it had powdered sugar in it. We talked about the importance of Friendship, having friends and being a friend. Then, we added prayer (cocoa) and as we went down the list of ingredients, we talked about the importance of each word--adding the ingredients to the bag. When we arrived at the last ingredient, we talked about Teamwork--how we all work as a team. Then, we took turns squeezing the bag. As each girl squeezed the bag, the ingredients mixed together. At the end, we had Friendship Fudge.

This is a lot of fun. I still remember using this as an object lesson for YCL training, last year. A member of the Stake Presidency was in attendance. He looked at the bag of ingredients and just knew that this would not turn into anything. He said that he felt bad that such a great lesson would go to waste. He was the last one to squeeze the bag--he was completely amazed that it worked. The bag of ingredients turned into DELICIOUS FUDGE!!! A side note: I knew that it would work--I tried it before I presented it.

Here is the recipe if you would like to try it on your own:

Friendship Fudge

Mix in a gallon ziplock bag:

4 cups powdered sugar

3 ounces of softened cream cheese

1/2 cup softened margarine

1/2 cup cocoa

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 chopped nuts

Mix ingredients together by squeezing the bag and passing it around the group. When it is mixed together, roll into a log and slice and serve. (You may need extra powdered sugar or eat with spoons).

I do have a thing for Fire Engines....

Ker challenged us to share an embarrassing moment. I get embarrassed a lot. So, I had to really think about one that stood out in my mind. Whenever anyone asks me about my most embarrassing moment, I would have to say–my clothes falling off. But, I have one that is pretty close to that one..


This happened one particular Friday. I need to give a bit of detail so, that you might understand where my brain was–or lack there of.


I had arrived home after a yucky day at work. It was long and at the time, I was working with a lady that her goal in life was to make everyone’s life a living hell. The message light was blinking on our home phone. I clicked the button and for the next 2 minutes, the guy that I was so much in love with was breaking up with me on my home phone. I was completely devastated. First, I could not believe that he was breaking up with me. Second, I could not believe that he left a message on my home phone–he wanted all my roommates to know that he was through and now available again. It was awful. So, being a girl with a sensitive heart and instant tears–you can just imagine what it was like.


My roommates, after telling me several times that I am better off without him, decided to try and salvage my night and my heart (and my life–which I knew was falling completely apart). They called our friend, Jennifer. Jennifer, then, arranged for several friends to get together at her home for dinner and games. After quite a long time of convincing me that I needed to go, I found myself at Jen’s. As I walked in, there were some totally adorable and gorgeous guys along with some of our friends from the ward. Dinner was nice–I do have to admit–a lot of fun.


Ok, my friends were trying extremely hard to have me think of things other than that voice mail that I had received earlier in the day. When all of a sudden, one of the (might I add-GORGEOUS) guys started telling a story. In the middle of the story, he says "Fire Engine". I have to admit I was not listening to his story, but when he said "Fire Engine", I made this VERY LOUD Fire Engine sound. When I realized that this sound came from me...EVERYONE was staring at me. I was mortified. I could not believe what I just did. Thank goodness for wonderful roommates–they just burst out laughing and which seemed a zillion years passed–others started laughing, too!! Dying of humiliation, I retreated to the bathroom where I just burst out into tears. It was quite awhile before I dared step out into the room–to face everyone especially those guys.



For a long time, every time I ran into those guys, they would ask me how my Fire Engine sound was coming along. HOW EMBARRASSING!!!

Just an added thought...maybe I do have a thing for Fire Engines.....


(another exerpt from my journal)

Tuesday's thought...

Tuesday's thought of the day...

"Enjoy the little things in life,

for one day you may look back and

realize they were the big things!"

What are the "little things"

in your life?

HELLO, new friend....

Well, the time has come to retire my Pink Razor. Lately, it has kind of had a mind of its own. It does not like the number 9, so it will not dial it. It does not like arrow keys at all. No matter how frustrated you become with it, it will not arrow up, down, to the left or to the right. Do you know how important the arrow keys are when you want to look up an address, retrieve your voice messages, type a text message, and yes, the list goes on and on? So, being almost 3 years old, my Pink Razor has had its proper memorial service. So long good friend, but HELLO new friend...Let me introduce you to...
Yes, this is my new friend and I am excited about it. There are lots and lots of fun and exciting features that I do not have a clue how to use, BUT...I know that I will have fun learning. As for right now, I know how to make and answer calls, check the time, text, and turn down the ringer--yep, that is about it. It has been fun except that I pushed a wrong button, left a lengthy message on someone's phone--then, realized when my Mom called to tell me that I placed the message on her cell phone...I guess, I really do not know how to make calls. So, if you receive any wacky calls or texts from me...just laugh. It is just ME--trying to figure out my new phone. Oh, I did test it out...it does dial 9's and the arrow keys move in the proper direction.

aw...NERTZ!!!

Follow the never-ending adventures of Nertz.

He is now located on the right hand of the page.