Halloween&Allergies&SisterTaylor

Halloween.

Probably one of the greatest holidays. I've always enjoyed dressing up in the most unique costumes and getting into it- especially my best friend Jordan. Ever since we found each other in our awkward and weird middle school stage in 6th grade, we've been inseparable. I've had so many good times with this girl, let me tell you. We're crazy, we're loud, we're funny (hilarious actually), we're weird, we're smart, we're crafty, we can be deep, and we're pretty much the best best friends you'll ever find! 

Well anyways, every year for halloween, we always try to dress up in some kind of super cool and unique costume. When typing this post, I totally decided to dig up all of our great halloweens over the past couple of years so please enjoy our amazing minds at work- 

2006- Washer & Dryer. Yes, we were chubsters. Yes, our candy went inside of our appliance. Yes, I still have mine.

2007- I couldn't find a picture of both us but we
were Mix & Match. Jordan was the matching one. 

2008- Birds. LOOK, WE HAD WINGS. #socool 

2010- We dressed up like our guy friends
Austin & Cole. Quite entertaining actually. 

2009- Meg & a Muse from Hercules. We
actually had a whole group and it was way fun. 

We were lame and failed in 2011.. and if we did dress up, I dont remember it all. Which is weird.

And now wait for it.....

HALLOWEEN 2012 

TMNT BABY. <3

We went to our ward party the night before Halloween and everyone was totally jealous, I know it. On the night of Halloween, we went trick or treating in a nearby neighborhood (never too old), watched Matt's intramural soccer game, and then headed over to the RA Thriller dance-off at the cannon. When we were trick or treating, it was getting close to when we had to leave to get to Matt's game (because he went with us) and so we were heading down our last street without planning on stopping at anymore houses. However, we spotted this decked out yard with people sitting around a fire in the front yard and Josh really wanted to go, so we thought we would just take one more stop. It couldn't take more than like 3 minutes right? Well we walked up and there is this elderly lady sitting around the fire and she tells all of us to sit down on the stumps surrounding the fire. She explains that she tells stories and that she wants to share one with us. Automatically, Lindsay and I let out a little chuckle because we actually were in a hurry, but we couldn't just deny her story so we complied. Well she begins her story (which was creepy because the fire kept crackling at all the right times and I was so jumpy) and 20 minutes later we ended up speeding off to Matt's game. 

After the game, we decided to check out the RA Thriller dance off. Let me just say that it was like the scariest thing ever. Some of the RA's get way into it (which mine of course did) and I definitely am still afraid to sleep down the hall from mine. Pretty hilarious but also kind of scary... 

Overall, I would say Halloween 2012 was a pretty successful night.

So remember all of my allergy problems? Well I got tested and the results are in! Curious at all? Well here's the list of everything that came out with positive allergies- 

1. Mountain Cedar & Mulberry Tree

2. Aspergillus, Epicoccum, Hormo, and Penicillium Molds

3. Timothy, Johnson, Bermuda, and Alfalfa Grasses 

4. Feathers 

5. Sheep Sorrel, E. Plantain, and Sage Brush Weeds 

So basically, it's nice to know everything I'm allergic to but there's nothing I can really do about the environmental allergies. I'm devastated about my feather allergy though because I have a super comfortable down comforter and pillow that I now need to get rid of. :(

The actual testing wasn't so bad besides all the needles and what not. 

I snapped a shot while the nurse was getting them ready ---> 

I also got a picture of my forearm and upper arm (sorry, its kind of gross but I had to)

  

<-- They basically pricked both of my forearms, and if it reacted, I'm allergic to it.

On my upper --> arm, she injected with a needle everything that didn't react from the pricks to see if it got a reaction in the skin. You can see that I got most of my reactions on my upper arm.

So where do we go from here? Well I have an appointment on Tuesday to see what my options are but I pretty much know that it's either to start Immunotherapy or to wait (because a mission puts a hold on the Immunotherapy). Well seeing as I was still way confused on whether or not to go on a mission, I knew that I had to make a decision by my appointment on Tuesday. 

This was scary to me because I was still really unsure and was scared to commit to a decision. 

Well I fasted on Friday to not necessarily come up with an answer yet, but to get a better idea of what would be best for me. At least, this is what I started out the day fasting for. In the end, I really just prayed and fasted for my former classmate from Cy-Woods, Taylor Cline. She was in a coma after she had a clot in her brain and had to go into surgery. Taylor was one of the sweetest girls I've ever met and I never saw her without a smile on her face. I couldn't imagine that she could pass away so young, but after fasting and praying all day, I got an answer that it was her time to come home. This was hard for me to hear, and it broke my heart to even think about. But sure enough, she passed away the next morning. She was a talented musician, a good friend, a beautiful woman, a smart scholar, and she will be missed.

While I thought I wouldn't receive any inspiration on whether or not I should go on a mission, I ended up getting what I needed when talking with my friends Alisa and Charlie late that night. We were talking about missions and missionaries and I just got this feeling that everything would be alright. I knew that it would make me so happy to share the gospel and that I would never be alone. I felt like serving a mission would be one of the best things I would ever experience. 

And while I got these good feelings, I knew that I still wasn't 100% sure about what I should do. 

Sunday came and so I fasted again to know of what path I should take. Sure enough, as the day progressed and I went to church, spent some time looking up missionary application procedures, and went to tunnel singing, I just got this overwhelming, growing feeling that I needed to serve a mission. All of my good feelings turned to confidence in what I needed to do and I began to feel this bursting joy and excitement within me that I've never felt before. 

Therefore, I can now proudly say that about mid-June, you can call me Sister Taylor for I will be serving the Lord in whichever country or state he sends me. I'm so grateful for the power of fasting and prayer and that I can receive answers to my prayers. I know that serving a mission is the right path for me and that sharing the gospel will bring me such incredible happiness. I am so insanely excited for my future and I can't wait to see what He has in store for me. 

Laugh of the Day: 

My nasty bruise! Please laugh at the progression of this battle wound. I don't know if laughing is the correction emotion, but I find it pretty entertaining.

Vein vs. Needle. Needle won.