The Gift of Time

On my mission, I became acquainted with a book called "The 5 Love Languages." My companion told me about it and we tried to figure out what ours were. If you've never heard of it, very basically it talks about five general ways that people receive love. The key to happy and fulfilling relationships is to figure out how others feel love and show it to them that way. The five that it talks about are time, words, gifts, service, and physical touch. Through a series of questions, I figured out that my primary love language is time. I feel most loved when people make an effort to spend time with me. I feel most hurt or unloved when people don't make time for me or put other things above me. 

My birthday is a pretty big deal to me, so I really like it when people are willing to spend time with me on that day. Two of my very best friends, Jaime Zogmaister and Ingrid Michaelson, made great sacrifices to be with me on my birthday. That's how I know they love me. Jaime flew out from Utah to spend my birthday weekend with me and Ingrid arranged her tour schedule to stop in Bloomington, Indiana - only an hour away - on my birthday. So thoughtful and kind. :)

My mom and my sisters and I were supposed to go down to Bloomington for the concert, but Micah was sick that day so our friend Barb Salee came with us, which was super fun! All of them sacrificed to be with me on my birthday, too - Barb wasn't even planning on coming until ten minutes before she left, but she dropped everything and came, my mom had to get up super early for seminary the next day but stayed out late anyway, and Tessa had to drive all the way to Fishers to get the kids, arranged for a babysitter, then drove all the way back down to come to the concert with us. Jaime surprised me by coming out and had even bought herself a ticket to the concert so she could go with us! All kinds of love. We had dinner at an Afghan (from Afghanistan) restaurant before, then went to the concert in the beautiful Buskirk-Chumley Theater. This tour was a small, stripped down tour with only Ingrid and three other musicians so it was pretty low-key, but I still had a great time! Ingrid's hilarious and fabulously talented, so she puts on a great show.

Since Jaime was in town, I was able to arrange things so I could be off work the next day. We slept in and caught up on our favorite TV shows, then did some shopping. Friday night, some members of my family came over to have dinner and play a few games.

Saturday morning, I had to work at a Showcase of Schools at the mall downtown, so Jaime tagged along with me and made food runs for us and she and I walked around looking at the booths. Ours looked pretty bomb, if you ask me (I definitely made it).

After my shift was over, Jaime and I shopped at the mall for a while, had lunch, then drove around some of the historic neighborhoods just north of downtown and dreamed about the day when we'd have enough money to buy cool houses like that with so much character and charm.

We met my friends Jeanette Brickley, Lauren Futrell, and Natalie Haight to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 in the theater. It was really intense and really good. We went to Studio Movie Grill which is a theater where you sit in recliners and you can order full meals and there are servers who will bring it to you. We just had popcorn, though (so good!), then had sushi for dinner at a different restaurant.

Sunday, Jaime came to church with me. I sang in Sacrament Meeting so Isaac, Dominika, and Adelina came to my ward, too, which was really thoughtful of them. Jaime and I came home and made dinner, then she did my dishes! She really is the best. This was by no means a super exciting evening, but I have to mention it because it's pretty much the only picture I took from the whole weekend. :)

The rest of the time she was here, we pretty much just hung out. We ate a lot, watched some documentaries on Netflix (I'm now obsessed), and laughed a lot. I wore this outfit, which was super stylin', and we just had fun being together.

She was supposed to go home Monday night, but on the way to the airport we found out her flight was delayed, which would've made her miss her flight in Denver - the last flight of the night. It's super silly for her to be stuck overnight in Denver, so we called Frontier and they put her on a flight the next day! Last time she was here, her flight kept getting cancelled due to the crazy snowstorm we had. Clearly, Indiana just wants her to stay forever! She ended up leaving Tuesday afternoon, though that flight was also delayed by an hour. I love when she gets to stay extra time! We had a great weekend, and I'm so grateful she's willing to sacrifice money and time away from work to come spend time with me! She's the best! Here's to being 29!