Yesterday I attended a conference for my job down at UVSC. The theme of the conference was "Check Your Balance" and it was on finding balance in your life between work, family, & personal. It was awesome! I think the thing that really made an impact on me the session on the Hartman's Color Code Personality Profile. I have taken the test before and so I was surprised at just how much I learned. I knew that I was a blue and the basics of that but they talked about ways to apply it more effectively to help you understand your strengths and limitations. Plus it helped me to understand a little more about some of my friends that I have had conflict or confusion with this past year. A friend and I talked last night about the test and made predictions about what colors all of our friends were. I wonder how right on we were. If you want to take the test go to: http://www.thecolorcode.com . When it asks for the coupon code use PAW. When you are done, leave a comment as to what your color is ... I would love to hear!

P.S. Finally added the pics from FHE on Monday night!

I love how when you are feeling kind of down, something amazing happens to totally lift your spirits! Many of you know that I run websites dedicated to swimmers Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin. I was contacted today by the CEO of a meet that is going to be taking place in Indianapolis in June. He informed me that both Natalie & Michael would be attending and asked if I would be interested in receiving press credentials. Do you know what that means? I would have press access. That means that I would have limited access to the pool deck ... we are talking up close and personal! It is for three days in Indianapolis and I have a free ticket that I should be able to use. If all goes according to plan I will be there! Yahoo! Talk about a sweet birthday present! Breathe Ali! Breathe!

I have been feeling extremely lonely lately. Why is this you may ask? And to be honest I am not sure if I could give you a clear cut answer as to why. I have a lot of great friends that I enjoy spending time with on the weekends. But over all I only have one person that I speak to on a regular basis ... she calls me, I call her kind of a thing. In some ways this is very nice, others it leaves a void in my life.

I think part of this is because I work at a job that I don't particularly enjoy and have had a few problems at home lately. I don't really have fun anymore. I just exist. My life is comprised of minutes and hours where I am going to and fro doing what everyone else expects of me. I rarely get to do what I want to do. I do things that others want me to do because I know it makes them happy. I keep myself from calling or emailing other friends because I don't want to seem too needy or pushy. I worry about them because I know things aren't right in their lives and want to help, but you can't if they don't want you to. I wish I could just live my life without always thinking how others will react to the things I do. You are probably saying to yourself, "If you feel that way, then why don't you just do it?" Because I have learned the hard way that everything you do can come back and bite you in the butt. And I am sick of my butt hurting.

After talking with a friend today who told me that their brother was turning into a computer, I have decided that video games should come with a warning label that reads: Warning! Can be addictive!

Don't get me wrong. I think video games are fun and I have even been known to play one every once in a while. But whenever something takes over your life in away that it controls the other decisions in your life such as going out and doing something verses staying home and playing video games, it isn't healthy.

Do you ever look back and wish? Do you wish that things hadn't changed quite the way that they did? Not necessarily regrets, but differences? That certain relationships hadn't drifted apart, you had said things you ended up keeping to yourself? That is where I am right now. I look at things that have occurred over the past year and wish I could have stayed closer with some people, not pushed so hard with others, and maybe just been a little better. I can't regret any of it, because I learned so much. But I hope that the things I have learned can help me be better from here on out.

51. I wake up to the radio every morning (or should I say I sleep through the radio every morning.)
52. My eyes are blue, but occassionally change color depending on my mood and what I am wearing.
53. I couldn't ride a bike without training wheels until I was 10 years old.
54. During the summer I enjoy painting my toe nails bright colors.
55. My favorite photographer is Annie Leibovitz.
56. I saved our house from being burned down when I was 8 years old.
57. One of my fun and crazy hobbies is to go puddle jumping.
58. My heart is as big as my mouth.
59. I think Flash Gordon is cute! ;oP
60. My freshman year of high school I was nicknamed "The Checkered Spaz."

Today has already started out so great! I won $20 in free gas on my way to work from Star 102.7! I know that is something so simple, but it made me extremely happy! Over all it's been a pretty tough week, but I have decided today to enjoy the small things in life and hopefully I will get some ice cream! Plus general conference starts tomorrow which is always such a boost!

P.S. I also hope to work on a new layout this weekend - we are way overdue for a new one!

Be careful what you say and do, because you never know who will hear it, how it will make another feel, or the lasting effect it will have on the world. Unfortunately at least two things were done and said yesterday that have left a scar on my very tender heart.

on a more positive note ... I was published in the LDS Church News this weekend:

This past weekend I was reminded that we are shown our weaknesses so that they may be used to help us become stronger and to make us more humble. I think this is a great truth. As long as we are growing and learning from our weaknesses and trying to become better people then we can use them to become strengths. I hope that I am doing this appropriately.

One of my weaknesses lately has been my health. I went to the doctor again yesterday and had some more tests done. Once again I was told that the results came back the best they could. That I am extremely healthy in that part of my body. This has become quite the frustration for me ... because I know that I am feeling pain but if there is nothing wrong with me, then maybe my friend's idea of my having been abducted by aliens and injected with grape juice is true! I am just going to have to have a little more faith that things will work out the way that they need to.

Today is Brenda's 30th Birthday - a big shout out to her!

I hope you have a fabulous birthday! Go have some fun - sing a song, play with friends, dance on a pole all to your "little black heart's" content!

New Pics: Grizzlies Hockey Game, Clark's Tae Kwon Do Belt Ceremony, & Brenda's Not So Surprise Party.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It is the day of the Irish when wearing green is expected and kissing is probable.

Today I have a few things on my mind ... the first being my good friend Matt. He is leaving today to head to good ol' Cali and pursue his dreams of becoming an actor. I will miss him, but I am also extremely proud of him and his decision to go and make his dreams come true. How many of us do that? How often do we realize our dreams and go after them? Do we let fear stand in the way? Or say, it could never work? How do we know this unless we try? So to Matt - congrats friend! May you find all the dreams that you are hoping for!

Thursday afternoon I picked up Ben & Tania and the three of us hit the road after grabbing drinks at Sonic. Unfortunately, Phil was sick and wasn't able to join us in the fun! We missed you Spud Butt! We arrived in Moab around 5:30 and met up with Matt & Tysen and decided to set up camp before heading into town for a bit. After we got back the guys built a fire and we made dinner and had a lot of fun hanging out until the rest of my friends arrived. We all slept on Brenda's large football tarp under the stars. It was a bit chilly but we all slept close to each other to keep warm.

A group decided to go bike on the slick rock and so Katie, Tania, Jake, Ben, & I decided to hit Arches National Park. We started out at Sand Dune Arch, which was my favorite from last year. We went further in and enjoyed the sand and climbing the rocks. Next stop was Skyline Arch. There were some lizards there that we had fun getting pics of. After finishing up at Arches we grabbed some lunch in Moab and then headed back to camp before I had to take off and head up north. I hated leaving early, which was really hard (I would have rather stayed and played longer). The worst was the fact that I got stuck in stand still traffic in Provo for almost an hour. I barely made it the wedding I was taking pictures at on time.

After the wedding I headed to Logan and checked in to the hotel up there. I was barely in bed when my exhaustion over took me and I crashed for the rest of the night. I don't think any hotel room bed has ever been so nice! Saturday morning, I met my friend James for lunch before going to the temple to take more pictures. It was a beautiful day and the pictures turned out really nice. Before heading home I stopped to visit my friend Kevin and his family and then on the road again.

The rest of the weekend consisted of some more photography as I took pics for some friends of mine. Would you want this kid teaching you about Jesus? Just kidding! We took some nice shots, but this funny one is my fave!

Anyways ... my Moab pics are posted along with Katie's and Ben's. Enjoy!