Howdy Ya'll!

  Yes. It finally happened.

My sister officially has been called to serve.

Texas, Fort Worth Mission

English Speaking.

Reports to the MTC on December 19th.

I'm so excited for her.

She will be great. 

And. she gets to spend the next 18 months in the same state as these guys.

And in the same exact place as these guys.

So officially more than half of my mom's side of our family will be in Texas for the next 18 months.

You know who else she will be with?

THIS GUY!

I hope they serve in the same zone or whatever. I would love that.

I'm so excited her her to do this.

It hasn't set in that she is leaving yet for me.

I don't know that it will but that is okay.

She will be a great missionary! This is perfect for her and exactly what I picture her doing right now.

So maybe that is why it hasn't set in.

She will serve for 18 months which means she will be home June of 2014.

You know who else gets home then too?

Take a wild guess.

June 2014 will be a great month.

I can feel it.

But here we go again!

7 weeks left with her!

Guess I better start going home a lot now.

That won't be a problem though.

Here goes the next missionary out!

With thousands more joining here soon!

A Cure

         You guys,

I've tried and tried to find a cure to my obsession with blogging and nothing seemed to do the job.

It just added to my list of obsessions.

But I have officially found it.

You know what it is?

My iPhone.

I finally joined the club and everything is as my fingertips.

I hardly if ever use my laptop during the day.

It's all on my phone.

Everything.

It's amazing.

You know what else is amazing?

Fall Break.

This year, my family went to my Aunt and Uncles cabin and spent a few days together there before Mal leaves on her mission.

(Her call comes Wednesday!)

It was so much fun.

We watched a lot of movies,

built lots of fires,

went 4-wheeling,

played pool,

carved pumpkins,

ate so much junk food,

laughed,

and had a great time.

For better updates on my life:

follow me on insta @haleygoaslind

Wanted to be Blown Away

 And I was...

Wednesday night, Peter so graciously took me along to the concert of my dreams.

Carrie Underwood and Hunter Hayes.

I've loved Carrie Underwood for forever. 

She is always my go to girl when I  feel excited, sad, or mad.

She has a song for it all and they are all perfect.

I've loved her new album "Blown Away" and have listened to it at least once a week since I got it over the summer.

Basically she is my idol.

Well I guess she is the American Idol.

But really, if I could sing like anyone, it would be her....or Christina Aguilera. 

Then to make my dream concert better, Hunter Hayes opened.

He is a pretty new artist but if you haven't heard his song "Wanted" then you need to get out from under a rock and go listen to it.

He is so cute! Seriously! I was just like a school girl the whole time. 

He sang Wanted, while he only played the piano.. adorable.

But the rest of the time he played his guitar and sang.

And looked adorable.

I have a major crush on him. 

It also is a bonus that it was brought to my attention that he looks freaky a lot like Mike?

Just stretch out his face a little bit and they'd be twins.

Love it.

Then Carrie Underwood did her thing.

That girl can SING!!

She just has so much power in her voice and it never once left.

Through the whole 2 hours of her singing, she was just as loud and powerful as she was in the first song.

She sang a lot of stuff from previous albums which I liked but this made it so she didn't sing my favorites from this album. But that is okay.

The two of them sang a duet together and I loved it, even though I wish it was to a different song.

So all in all,

I'm way lucky I got to be taken to this concert, since it was free I enjoyed it a lot more.

Carrie Underwood is so so talented.

Hunter Hayes is so talented

so adorable,

so wanted

so mine.

In other good news, notice some of those pictures??? 

Guess who finally got an iPhone and Instagram!! 

Follow me @haleygoaslind

Sista Sista!

Like I promised,

Here's the tribute to my one and only

sister.

She turned 22 on October 1st.

Yeah, when did being a Grandma start so young? I don't know. But she joined the club. She is officially a Grandma.

Mal and I began way back, in about...1993.

I was born and we were best friends and that is the story.

Actually, not even close.

We did a lot of stuff as kids but do I remember any of it?

Not really.
But if you ask her she will remember every detail.

So obviously we were really really good at being cute.

Mal is two years older than me so we went to Elementary at the same schools until 5th grade. 

We shared a room until she was 14 and I was 12.

That caused a...few... problems.

Small things, like,

Throwing vacuums at the other and breaking fingers,

Ripping of hair out,

Fingernails digging in skin leaving perfect scars.

But we did some things together too.

Cutting all the hair off our barbies and washing it down the bathroom sink,

Singing in our room and sounding professional,

playing dolls and dress-ups with mom's old clothes,

doing one handed cartwheels while wearing bandanna's as shirts,

not to mention dance classes and all that fun girly stuff.

 

We finally got our own rooms and got our space.

Mal went on to Junior High and I stayed in Elementary School.

So we did our own things and had our own friends.

We moved again just before I went to Junior High and we got rooms right next to each other.

That was a good time. 

That's when I remember becoming a freak and she would somehow laugh at me still.

We had a lot of late nights and lost a lot of sleep but it was hilarious.

We were so funny.

We went to the same High School and were in the same school for the first time since I was in 4th grade.

Then she went off to college and I loved to go up and visit her,

It was basically a free vacation and it was to college.

What is better then college?

Then, with the normal turn of events,
I joined her up at college.
No. We did not live together.
Oh and just to get that out there,
No, we are not twins.
and
No, I am not older than her.

We did fun stuff at college like most people do.
And I was so blessed to have family at school with me.

Obviously through all of this, we stayed adorable and never once looked ridiculous. Ever.

But now, she is all growed up!
I can't believe she is 22.
I feel like she was just learning to drive, taking me on drive-by's,
Just barely going to New York for Choir together

But no, she is so old.
And you know what else?
She is going on a mission.
Her going now gives me even more reason to call her Grandma because she will be 3 or 4 years older than the other girls. HA! Grandma!!!
But her papers get submitted this week if they aren't already.
I'm so happy for her.
I would say I'm excited to write her but I've seen her try and write missionaries and she won't write me.
But I'm excited for her to experience all of that!
And because soon her name to me will be,
Sister Sister.
So excited.

Mal is great and old. So here are 22 things about Mal that everyone should enjoy.

1. She is always late. That is how she is on time. By being late
2. She loves purple and red and yellow
3. She loves monkeys
4. She has a stuffed monkey named Stevie that she has slept with for years. He is matted and way nice.
5. She is good at procrastinating.
6. Her hair grows like a weed. I've thought about chopping it off in the night...what?
7. She is single! Guys, look out! Except she is leaving...
8. She is going on a mission!
9. She has my favorite closet of clothes to steal from...
10. She's a dancer. Making every move she makes graceful and all that dancer crap.
11. I think she is the favorite sister in my family. Boo.
12. She loves Gilmore Girls
13. She also gets hooked on the shows I watch too, except PLL.
14. She is way too responsible and put together. How do I compete with that??
15. She gives the best advice.
16. My friends refer to her as "The Jesus Child" because she is. And if I even breathe wrong it gets me in trouble.
17. She remembers stupid dumb things in the biggest detail you could imagine. What is up with that?
18. She has great taste in music!
19. She is going to grow up to be an Elementary/Special Education teacher.
20. She quotes movies like a genius, making our conversations awesome!
21. She is super super smart. And she understands and likes math. How are we related, I know.
22. This post took me t(w)oo t(w)oo long.
Get it? Two, Two? 22?
Ha!

Happy Birthday Mal!
I love you Sister.

One Rant

Super fast.

Do boys understand the meaning of a date?

Things this implies:

You drive.

You make the plan.

You treat the girl with respect, then receive it back.

You are courteous to the girls needs i.e. curfew, classes, etc.

Things that imply a date:

A boy and a girl.

Just you two.

Or an even amount of boys to girls that was previously discussed and planned.

The boy invites the girl prior.

The girl says yes.

(Yes, these are vice versa for the girls too)

Boys, just be nice. Think about it.

Going on a date means you need to be your best self regardless of if the girl is someone you have just met or someone you've known for years.

It's just common sense.

Is there a class out there that we can send boys to?

I've got at least one who I will gladly volunteer. 

Nobody Panic... or everyone...

As everyone and their dog probably already knows,

the LDS church changed the mission age for boys to 18 and 19 for girls.

Guess what?

I'm 19 and a girl.

Whoa! What? I didn't know that??

This is been the only thing on my mind this weekend.

Ever since I got the 4545168415 texts from people asking what my plans were.

This is such great news, don't get me wrong.

I'm amazed how perfect this is for the world right now.

It is a game changer, that is for sure.

I'm not going to lie, I had a complete blog post basically saying that I was going to go.

I could go at the end of the semester,

move home,

 pause school,

sell my housing contract,

not stress about finding a job,

then I'd get back right before Fall semester of 2014 literally just in time for school.

I could serve at the same time as all the people out right now including Mike.

And go out with all the other people leaving including Mallory.

And SO many of my best friends.

Literally I think everyone of them is going.

So here is my dilemma.

I've never had a feeling I'd go on a mission.

I've never wanted to.

It's not in my patriarchal blessing.

It really hasn't crossed my mind in a serious matter.

Now with a simple age change I feel pressured to go,

While yes, I did want to go and still kind of do because of the perfect timing with everything,

Why now?

Just because I could go right now?

That is the other problem.

Am I ready to go right now?

Since I've never wanted to go, I haven't been preparing for this.

I've never prayed to know if I should go.

Until yesterday.

I've never searched my patriarchal blessing for possible direction that I should serve.

Until today.

I've never searched the scriptures for an answer to this question.

Until today.

I've never cried at a dumb EFY song about missions and prayer.

Until today.

This is all completely new.

I feel like I have to decide like yesterday, with all my girl best friends that have.

They all just so simply gave up on their 4 year college plans and are ready to serve.

All because they can go 2 years earlier?

Is this the point of this?

I don't know how I'm supposed to know if I should do this if I've never wanted to until now.

Do I go just because it doesn't feel wrong?

Because it is amazing opportunity?

Because it is absolutely perfect timing?

Or do I stay behind because this has never been something I'd do?

Because I haven't prepared?

Because I have a plan here?

Because I need to experience life here?

My mind cannot drop this subject.

Everything leads me back to it.

This is huge.

Bigger then anything I've had to deal with.

I've been there for so many people deciding and preparing to go and seen how hard it is.

But you know what?

They do it.

Was all of that just preparing me for my opportunity to serve?

Was it a precursor for what I would go through?

But they got to choose.

In some ways, this chose me.

I feel pressured to go now.

Because this is the first time I've wanted to go, now.

If I wait then what is the point?

I never wanted to go when I was 21,

so it has to be soon.

Like very,very soon.

I can't decide if this rule was changed because I'm one of the girls that needs to go but otherwise wouldn't.

Or if I just put that in my head and this shouldn't change anything for me.

But that is the problem.

It changes everything.

So I know what everyone is going to say to me.

Get on your knee's Haley.

Search for an answer.

I've done that.

How will I know?

How do I know it is really for me and not just because it is suddenly an option?

Or just because everyone else is going?

Because it is such great timing?

Welcome to my rambles.

Welcome to my stress.

Welcome to my life.

My roommate is the only person that understands and is just as stressed about this as me.

Because neither of us are ready for marriage so is a mission supposed to happen?

Basically our conversation got to these things:

Life is hard.

This is a little unfair 

How do I know?

Our bathroom is unbelievable.

We need to trim the rose bush outside.

We are just going to live in this house forever and eventually it will be cute.

We are going to be a wallflower.

Life should have come with instructions.

We are stressed.

Good conversation right?

So that's right now for me.

Growing up is crazy hard.

They should have warned us about that.

It's coming

Guys,

My life has fallen apart. 

Everything in.

I have been having so much fun but still trying to get so much done.

I have so much to do in the next two weeks.

I've had so much to do the past week.

I owe my wonderful sister a birthday post and I'm going to get there.

I'm going to do it.

As soon as I don't have a 10 paged paper due and a huge Sociology test.

I think I have mono again and this is not good with my classes.

Do I drop them if it turns out I do?

This is the 2nd time in 2 weeks that I've been sick,

This time all I want to do is sleep,

and get the boogers out of my nose.

This is all.

Things to look forward to:

Mal's birthday post

finding out if I have mono

deciding if I drop out of school for the semester

cleaning my room- it's disastrous.