Promotion and Birthday Stuff

Yes I am ALIVE! (barely). Almost 4 weeks ago I got promoted at work. I know that was quick right? When Heather said can I talk to you in my office please, my heart stopped and I immediately thought oh no what did I do wrong?!! Are they going to fire me?! I sat down and she said Kathleen is going to be coming in as well, and then I really thought CRAP what the heck did I do wrong?! Heather proceeded and she was her happy self and said so how are you liking it here so far?! I told her I like it a lot and feel like I have the hang of things with staffing. She said oh good were glad to hear that! So by now I think okay I must not be in trouble because she is acting normal and happy so I should be good. Kathleen gets in there and then they proceed to tell me that there are some changes being made in the company and they were promoting Aja to Senior Account Manager and Sabrina was becoming an Account Manager and they wanted to know if I would like to replace Aja and become a Sales Coordinator. I immediately began and to smile and tried to hold back my excitement and play it cool with a YES I would love too!! They said they were impressed with what I have done so far and how quickly I caught on to staffing and they thought I would be a good asset to the Phoenician team as a Sales Coordinator. I was so excited as this is the position I originally wanted when looking online to work for them but knew there wasn't any positions open. So I took the gamble of taking the staffing job in hopes of in a year I would get promoted to sales coordinator. But getting promoted 6 weeks later was way easier and saved me from having to beg them in 8-12 months to move up the chain. So I was anxious to start and a little nervous I wouldn't know how to do everything that was required of me. The first two weeks were kind of awful, working 50+hours both weeks, and super stressful and I was frustrated with myself that I wasn't doing everything perfect. (which is crazy to think, because I have a 3 month window of training & learning before the expect me to know how to do everything). But still it was just discouraging when you think you did the proposal or contract perfect and then you get the review back saying I needed to change a large amount of things. I just lost faith in myself that I could do this position. So this is where prayer kicked into place. I prayed so hard everyday for those 2 weeks that I would know how to do everything that was asked of me, and that I would be able to get all my assignments done before 7:00 that night cause I hate staying past 6pm. My nights are for editing videos and when getting done that late I don't have the drive to work on them. Anyways so this has been the 3rd week and it has been MUCH better. Where now I actually enjoy it! :) My proposals and contracts are looking better and I only have like 1 or 2 changes to make to them, I know where to find everything in the system, I know how to work the software, figure out pricing and taxes, and it isn't taking me as along to complete assignments. It's exciting to see its all getting better and I know that I CAN do this job now. Its fun being back here in the cubes now instead of the front cause everyone just talks to each other and I feel more apart of the office. Where as before I felt a little disconnected. Everyone here is so great and friendly, and fun to work with.


So other shenanigans for the month of February. Well I had two weddings to video which were fun! The gilbert temple open house was going on and I got to take two of my best friends and their men, Diane, Cheyenne, Brad, Bruce, and Diane's mom! I think they really enjoyed it and were excited to see what it looked like inside! Dustin had all the information about the architecture side of things cause he went through with the architect and Diane was really fascinated with that aspect of the Temple! Then I took my friend Katie from college through it and she thought it was absolutely incredible! Then my favorite visit of all was taking my Nanna & Papa through! I already wrote about this experience in my personal journal, but to make the story short my Nanna was overwhelmed with the spirit when she walked into the celestial room and totally understood that this is what Heaven will feel like. She was so emotional and could not stop talking about how she felt in that room and expressed to us that she is actually wanting to get baptized now. I began to cry I was SO happy and so grateful that Heavenly Father finally answered my prayers. She wants to wait for Trennon to get home and she cannot wait to go back into the Temple someday :) Such an incredible experience to witness her heart be touched by the spirit more than I could have ever imagined :)

So here is a funny story that I laugh at a lot. So Dustin is the ping pong champ in his household and none of his roommates have beat him. Well since I am pretty good at ping pong, I HAVE actually beat Dustin in a few games. So when his roommates found out they gave him tons of crap for it and said she must of been distracting you with her looks and bla bla bla. They really just didn't think I could be good enough o beat him. So one night when I was hanging out there, Blake recommended we have a tournament. Blake and Warren played and Warren won, then it was my turn to play Blake and I beat him pretty good. Now it was my turn to play Warren, and while I am beating him Blake keeps saying you need to bust out the secret weapon. I kept thinking the "secret weapon" was like really hard serve or something. Well he never busts it out and I win the match. So then I think I played Dustin and I lost, and then it was Warren and Dustin's turn to play. Dustin is beating Warren pretty good and Blake again says, "Warren you need to bust out the secret weapon" and still at  this point I wasn't thinking much of it and thought they were just being goofy and talking up this "secret weapon" and it was really nothing.  The score now is 16-8 and Dustin is winning and Warren looks at Blake and says okay its time to bust it out. Warren then begins to unzip his jacket and I still was like okay maybe he is just taking it off to have more flexibility in moving side to side. But then once the jacket was completely off I realized my FACE was on his shirt! My jaw dropped and I SO embarrassed as I saw the picture of me in the Amazon covered in a clay mask, flexing my arm printed on the front of Warren's shirt. Dustin died laughing and we both were in shock and had no clue what to say. Warren then proceeded to say, "Since Trell is the only one who can beat you, this shirt is to get in your head and distract you so we can beat you". Dustin and I died laughing and couldn't believe they went through all that work to make that shirt. It was pretty darn hilarious and as much as I was embarrassed by that picture, it makes a great story! :)
Then it was valentines day and Dustin picked me up and had a "dum-dum" sucker bouquet for me which was adorable and it had a poem from Blake in it, his brother made some paper cranes to stick in there, and his other friend made duct tape hearts, then his sister made cookies, and then he made a poster that had candy incorporated into the note. It was so great! Then he took me to this El Salvador place in Mesa and it's funny because when Jake Winters was on his mission in El Salvador, Paige and I always said we gotta go try that place soon and tell Jake we went there! But we never got around to it. But we got their papusa's and they were DELICIOUS!! Definitely will be going back there. Then we went to the Scottsdale Civic center park area and walked around and looked at the different art things and that is where the red LOVE sign is. So we took in a picture in front of that, and then we witnessed TWO different couples getting engaged at the park! We clapped and cheered for them and it was pretty funny! After that he told me he was going to heart attack my car while I was at work today but time didn't permit so he had all these hearts ready to be used for a heart attack. So we went an heart attacked his roommates car and wrote a note saying from your secret admirer and to this day he is still trying to figure out who did it. He even has all the hearts saved  in their house and are on their fridges. Then we went and did his sisters car and wrote from CM which is her boyfriends initials and they are both so confused on who did it! Its great. So that was a fun valentines date!


Then the next night I hosted a Valentine's Down Syndrome dance for the DSNetwork and we did it at Bella Rose which is a wedding venue and it was SOO much fun! We had great music, food, a photo booth, and my fellow ward members were so awesome on the dance floor. The kids and parents thoroughly enjoyed it and could not stop talking about how much fun they had! I can't wait to plan something like that again for them :)

Following weekend I had a birthday dinner with friends and then went to Jesterz that night which is always a good time. It was also Whitney's Bridal shower and stake conference and then Mo's surprise party at the Main Event, which is a way cool place! Weekend after that was my 23rd birthday! My friends are awesome and on Thursday Dustin picked me up for a birthday date and in the car he read me my first clue and I said, "YESS a Scavenger hunt!!" I was so excited! So from the clue I knew I had to go to Gilbert High and we get there and Kylee & Bri are in the bleachers and they have a present and a big Mexico poncho I had to put on. My challenge there was to kick a soccer ball through the field goal and sing the fight song. It did that like a champ! Next clue took me to the church building and Kelsey and her roommate were there and they had another present, balloons, and a birthday princess sash I had to wear. Then my challenge there was to stand on the street corner and sing, "Popcorn popping" and "I'm and little teapot" with the actions! So I willingly did that and cars were driving by thinking I was crazy and I even got a honk at the end! :) Next clue took me to Val Vista Lakes Clubhouse and Megynn was there with another present and a sombrero for me and I had to ask for directions in a different language. I stopped a girl and butchered asking her where the beach was but it was pretty funny. Then my next clue took me to the water fountain in front of Costa Vida and there waiting for me was Neela, Justin, & Nate and they had balloons with notes all attached to them and a fake mustache for me to wear. Then my challenge there was to dance in the fountain and do a Mexican yell. Everyone thought I was crazy but it was freezing and fun! Then my next clue said something along the lines of going to eat and were driving down val vista and when we get to McKellip's I put a blindfold on and we turn left and then I didn't think we drove that long to even reach Lindsay road and then we make another left. So I thought we were in the orange groves because I didn't think we drove far enough to be at any restaurant. So I hear some talking and pots and pans banging and I thought hmmm did they set up a party in the orange groves and have people caterer? Then Justin and Nate come up to me and start talking in Spanish and that threw me off cause I thought they said they had to go somewhere else. So I am totally confused and have no idea what's going on or where I am at! Finally they walk me in and take off my blindfold and there were a lot of my friends there to surprise me for a birthday dinner! I was so excited and happy that they did all of this for me! It was the best present ever!

Then my actual birthday we had Whitney's bachelorette party and we stayed at the Hilton at Squaw Peak and had a casita that was awesome! We got everything decorated and got all ready and went to Dinner at The Parlor and went back to the hotel and played games and talked, and when we were going to bed we watched Kylee do her shadow puppets on the ceiling for a long time. It was quite entertaining. That morning we headed out and I was so bummed it was cloudy and rainy cause we couldn't go swim and use the water park, which is the whole reason why I booked that hotel! :( Anyways that afternoon I had to do some love story interviews and engagements and it started pouring rain before I could finish the guys interviews! Gaaahhh I was mad! Then we went to Cheesecake for Lori's birthday and then that night Nanna & Papa came over to watch the culture celebration and it was amazing!!! Holy cow did they do a good job putting that all together! I was very impressed with everything and the kids and gah it was definitely a night to remember! My Nanna said it was as good as the Olympics! Then Sunday was the actual dedication and what a wonderful experience it was to be apart of that. It is so cool and just amazing to finally have a temple here in little Gilbert. :)