Aren’t they stinking adorable? The boys are pretty cool too! Its funny because we all go to school together and people are amazed when I tell them that we’ve been friends since we were children. Its a blessing to have them in my life as a constant, life may change, but these girls know what that change happens and they go through it with me… blessed.

The day started with my aunt calling and realizing that I was coming as well, her response “Oh goody! It’s going to be a lot of fun” (mind you its a funeral). We arrived at the funeral home where there were a ton of girls in very short black dresses and very high thick heels. We entered and I’m pretty sure Santana was playing (apparently they just hooked up his ipod and put it on shuffle… we all looked at each other and said “remind me to clean up my ipod), you can imagine the selection). At the front of the room was the casket and the  flowers sent in condolences and an odd shaped flower arrangement on top the casket.

Yes, its true there was a BEER CAN flower arrangement on the top of the casket. If you don’t believe it, here is another one as better proof.

I don’t usually take pictures at funerals, but my uncle requested a shot or two. The fun did not start here. After the funeral, that was indeed filled with speeches that ended and/or began with “he was a bad ass friend”. We went down to the reception that was held at a bar, with a very nice lunch I must add, but a bar non the less. When I walked in everyone (so it seemed) had a bar in their hand. The bar was dark and small with three metal shinny poles in the middle of the room and lots of loud music playing. The centerpieces at the bar where more beer can flower arrangements (ten total). I at one point and time touched the pole with one of my hands, but forgot when one, so I was unable to eat because I forgot what hand I touched it with and the food was finger food. Instead of speeches there were toast given and then the whole bar burst out in the song “because I got high” (this song describes all the things that the singer would have done, but instead got high). Although this was all entertaining the best part of the night was what my second cousin did.

My cousin Greg, who is 21 and has two children 8 months apart, only comes around so often, but graced us with his presence at the funeral. The whole day he was making sly comments to me, but being oblivious to the world, I ignored them and laughed them off. Yet, at the bar I was so thrown off I couldn’t have missed it. Like I said, at the bar everyone had beer in their hands, but I did not. He (greg) asked where my beer was, I explained to him that I was on contact and therefore unable to drink for year. He then responded with “Well how do you know greg?” (thats the guy that died) I told him that he was my cousin where he responded with “That’s not true that means you’d be my cousin” I said “I’m pretty sure I am” and NOT LIE… his response was “That’s not true, because then you’d be my cousin, and no one I am related to looks as good as you do”. I stood there dumbfounded and because I know that my facial expressions ALWAYS express my feelings he knew I thought he was an idiot, but right then, like a night in shinning armor, my uncle swooped in and said “yes, she IS your cousin” and walked me away.

So there we have it, beer can flower arrangements and being hit on by my cousin, bet you cant beat that family gathering.

I usually start my questions out with “if you were lost in Disneyland which character would you want to escort you to saftey and why?”, that one is fun especially when people think WAY too much about it (to be honest, mine is Prince Charming, because he’s kind on the eyes), but my favorite question is “When you were 5 what did you “want to be when you grew up” ? I get answers like, doctors, lawyers, moms and even dads, but NO ONE ever has my answer, I wanted to be a cowgirl ( I think that next creative one I got was a trash truck driver).

Tonight for some reason the thought of what I wanted to be when I grew up came to mind (probably when I was pursuing my photography career dream). I am currently pursing a job as a teacher, but I wouldn’t mind ending up as a social worker, a ASL interpreter and/or a cow girl. Tonight I was talking (well texting) a friend and we were talking about boys, I said “sometimes I get to the point that I just want a boyfriend, which I’m not deneying would be fun, but I’m not just looking for a date, I’m willing to wait.” I feel the same way about my career, I know that God has it planned in such an amazing way and for that I’m excited .

+

But in actuality these people are the essence of the five year plan. In September I got to move to California Baptist University where I was blessed with friendships from these six people. Although these people aren’t all new friends, the way the friendships grew and formed in the last year have been amazing.

Last night I got to go to dinner with four of them (which having 71% of us at the same place at the same time is amazing) and we began to discuss our lives. We talked about culdesac baseball games, 7 room houses (and that was just upstairs), submarines at the lake, nightly bbq’s and endless other things that make dreaming so much fun. The best part though was at the end of the conversation it wasn’t the firemen pool from the second story to the first story that was brought up, or the weight room and bridges connecting all the houses, instead it was the fact that “for reals” we needed to figure out how to live on the same block.

I woke up this morning and thought “in five years, I can have coffee with Kandyce before church” and it was such a soothing feeling. How blessed and lucky am I to have friends who want to live life together in such a real way. I can’t wait for my kids to have ridiculously crazy “uncles” and a ton of best friends.

Now here is to getting through school, getting grown up jobs and living “the dream”

]]> http://sbtrout.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/5-year-plan/feed/ 0 sbtrout culdesac 4254_73974114607_506829607_1715051_5115479_n 4254_73973994607_506829607_1715028_1836342_n http://sbtrout.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/never-met-one-i-didnt-like/ http://sbtrout.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/never-met-one-i-didnt-like/#comments Mon, 13 Jul 2009 03:52:24 +0000 sbtrout http://sbtrout.wordpress.com/?p=39 ]]> So, today at work someone made a statement similar to this “i don’t think I know a single redheaded person”. I laughed and thought to myself, “its probably because I know all of them in a 50 mile radius!” Ever since I can remember I have had a least one redheaded friend, but as I sit here and count I believe I currently obtain friendships with nine redheads. Not only am I friends with them, they are very close friends and God has blessed me with unique relationships with each of them. Since I apparently have a unique blessing, I thought I’d share them with you…. 

   This is Brodrick “Brody” Levi Wood… He is the youngest of “The Wood Boys”. A group of young men, (weird to say) that I was privileged to grow up with. Brody is now a sophomore in high school and although I haven’t seen him play water polo, I heard he is quite a stud! Its been exciting to see God grow him into the man he is becoming! 

   This is the next in line with the boys.. this is Dylan Thomas Wood. Believe it or not he use to be shorter than me. I use to tell him that I was going to put him under my bed and only feed him a little so that he would never be taller than me. He didn’t agree to it, as thus we have this result! Dyl is going to a Sr. and he too is pretty rockin’ at waterpolo, but the thing that impresses me the most about this guy is his ability to swing dance. He has a girlfriend (whom I love, but is not redheaded) and a few weeks ago I was able to see them messing around and dancing, they are incredible.

BOOMER!! This is Sean Skylar Wood. This is “my little brother” probably the one of the boys I am the closest to. I would love to say its because of his charm and his amazing personality, but to be honest its because when I was in high school I dated his cousin who lived with him and we weren’t allowed to go out alone so Skylar would go with us. It was amazing though, because he’s the best thing that came through that relationship. We’ve had quit the adventures, we’ve learned how to switch from passenger to driver seat while driving, we drove to Long Beach in a storm and almost got washed away and we’ve had many a road trip… to nowhere! Skylar is going to be attending his second year at CSU Channel Island where he’s studying to be a history teacher. He too has an amazing girlfriend whom I love and adore. I am so privileged to have the relationship I do with this man and the memories I have with him are priceless… and a tad ridiculous! 

This is Kristen Amerine… or loverbug as I prefer! This is one of the 9 girls I got to live with, I’m so glad God brought her here from Westmont! Kristen and I got to spend a lot of nights leading to mornings studying and talking. She was my saving grace through finals and projects, I’m pretty sure my GPA for the last year is credited to her! We got to spend time praying, shopping and drinking lots and lots and lots of coffee. We started a tradition of sunday afternoons at Panera and I’m excited to go to school and reestablish that. This summer she has spent it in Clovis, which is near Fresno, but before that she spent a few weeks in the UK serving on a mission trip and sharing Christ with children there… yep her heart really is THAT big. I couldn’t imagine last year without her and I’m excited to have her back around! 

This is Tiffany Griffin… fun fact… we spent a year sleeping in the same bed… yeah, it was two separate years, but the same bed! Tiffany is a friend that I met at Hume Lake, she grew up there and when I attended Joshua I got to develop a relationship with her. Since that time our relationship has grown and her encouragement in life is much appreciated. This is us in a mutual friends wedding, probably my favorite memory with her is that morning when we ate a whole box of  doughnuts…haha or cuddling, or the unstoppable laughing fit she had that night. This women has one of the biggest hearts I have ever seen and I’m excited to see God use her to further the kingdom! 

This is my life friend… Meghan Meyer. I call her my life friend because we didn’t like each other at all when we first met, but apparently God wanted us to learn to live life together. We still don’t get along ALL the time, but I couldn’t imagine not having her in my life. Meghan is a talented photographer and has an amazing boyfriend! She lives far away and we’re unable to see each other often, but our lengthy phone conversations are a highlight of my life. I’m excited the way God has been growing her in the last year, and I can’t wait to see what else he has prepared for our friendship! 

This is Matthew Alexander Cook. I have to say this is probably the most random friendship I have. I met a girl in 5th grade at church camp and this year when I came to school her husbands best friend was this guy, who happen to live about 10 steps away from me and also grew up going to school with my cousin. He graciously inducted me into “the fam” only after a couple months, which was clearly explained to me isn’t something that happens often and I should feel privileged (which I am). This last year we got to spend a lot of time hanging out and talking (mostly on the porch). This guy is amazing! He’s one of the smartest people I know, he’s can ride a bike and he has a heart that desires to glorify God in what he does. Never in my life have I gone to 7-11 more often, eaten doughnuts as late and watch as much Scrubs as I have since I’ve been friends with him… and to think this time last year, we didn’t even know each other! 

This is Laurie Cook (not related to matt) … funny fact about her, when I was little I use to tell people I was Sarah Cook (she had a sister named that) because I wanted to be one of her sisters SO BAD! I’ve known laurie since I was young, but it was one night at Denny’s when I told her my whole life plan that our “grown up” friendship began. Although my life plan has changed about a 100% I’m glad our friendship hasn’t. I don’t get to see her a lot, but when I do, its guaranteed to be a lot of fun! This is a picture of her graduating with her masters from CBU… I couldn’t find a picture of just the two of us, but I found this fitting since her mom is in it and she too is a redhead!  

I have one last person in my life, who we’re not quit sure is a redhead or not, This is Emily Lynn Vis… She’s my niece and her hair is slowly growing a red tent… I’m kind of excited about it! She’s cute huh?

2. That I only cleaned 12 toilets instead of yesterdays 24

3. My finger almost got chopped off by a broom and it got scratched by a vacuum

4. I get to sleep in tomorrow

5. I got to spend the night with three amazing girls!

6. I get to have tomorrow off… That means coffee time with Jesus!

7, I get to go to the beach Friday

8. I love jay leno

9. I love summer

10. I can’t wait to meet my residents!

   Another birthday thing that I love is my best friends birthdays from high school. Their birthdays are every other month starting in January and ending in May and they are right in order, 16, 17, 18. So if you pay attention tomorrow is the end of that sequence its Mr. Casey Wood’s 22nd birthday, but this marks the second year I am unable to text him or call him and say happy birthday. I miss him dearly. I wish that tomorrow I could do more than wear my angels shirt and pay extra attention to the ball game, but I can’t. I don’t understand why… but i know that God is in control, he knows what is best and that he loves me. 

1. Have dinner ready: Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal on time.

This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him, and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospects of a good meal are part of the warm welcome needed.

2. Prepare yourself: Take 15 minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh looking.
He has just been with a lot of work- weary people. Be a little gay and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.

3. Clear away the clutter. Make one last trip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys, paper, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables.
Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift, too.

4. Prepare the children: Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces if they are small, comb their hair, and if necessary, change their clothes.
They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part.

5. Minimize the noise: At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of washer, dryer, dishwasher or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.
Be happy to see him. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him.

6. Things to avoid: Don’t greet him with problems or complaints. Don’t complain if he’s late for dinner.
Count this as minor compared with what he might have gone through that day.

7. Make him comfortable: Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool or warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes.
Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax and unwind.

8. Listen to him: You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.

9. Make the evening his: Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment; instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.

10. The goal: Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can relax.

Improve Answer Discuss the question “What were the roles of women in the 1950s?” Watch Question