Quarter of a Century

 30 January - 5 February 2023

This past week, I turned a quarter of a century years old! I'm so ancient, I know! ;). It was actually a pretty rough week, but the biggest blessing was that I recognized why and can improve this week. So, basically, I had a terrible diet because I let myself eat sugar all week for my birthday. I have been off of sugar this whole year with the exception that I can eat it on my birthday/birthday celebration, so I had a lot of sugar. On top of that, I missed my morning exercise because I was babysitting overnight for a family and had to drive one of the kids to school every morning. Not only was I gone during the time that I usually go to the gym with my mom, but my mom also had surgery so she was out of commission for the whole week as well. Not working out had such an effect on my body. It was so achy and poppy all week! And then eating sugar definitely impacted my mood and well-being as well. I was more moody, more tired, more emotional. All the fun stuff... but I'm already doing so much better now that I'm back off sugar and am back to exercising!

On Monday, I had class in the morning. I had to join from my car on the way back from driving Hudson to school. I went to my internship that afternoon, and because I went early, I recorded some videos for my channel. I love that I have my own office with a gorgeous background and I can use it for filming! It makes my videos turn out so much better! Then I met with a client, which was a bit rough because I had a hard time getting him to open up to me. But I talked with one of my co-therapists, Kari, and she gave me tons of good feedback and advice. Then I left straight for FHE, where we played real-life Clue. I went to the Hughes' house right after and spent the night in Brynn's room. I've been trying to say morning and/or evening prayers with them, which was really such a tender experience. I've also gotten woken up a couple of times due to the boys worrying about their dog... lol. She looks so innocent, tho! You wouldn't know what a trouble maker she is ;)

On Tuesday (happy birthday to me), I drove Hudson to school and then went home and had leftover bday cake for breakfast. I then drove out to work, and everyone said happy birthday! And my boss and his family took me out for a birthday lunch. It was really sweet. I am enjoying my new job a LOT. I seriously feel so blessed. I returned some things at Kohls and then was home for an hour before I went to pick up the Hughes boys for dinner at Red Robin, where we ate and celebrated my birthday. We had SO many fries! I LOVE bottomless fries!!!! Yum, yum. But I may have eaten too many... (no such thing, right? ...hehe...). Aaron and Briesa stopped by that evening to drop off my birthday present, and they brought the baby, so Ben and Hudson got to meet her. Ben was SO happy after seeing and interacting with the baby. It was quite adorable. 

Here's an adorable picture of my niece that Val took this week: 

On Wednesday, I got ready for the temple so that right after dropping Hudson off at school, I could go straight to the temple to do an Endowment session. It was a peaceful and restful experience. I went home, ate lunch, interviewed a classmate for school, then spent the entire rest of the day relaxing. I was supposed to do school work, but I just wasn't feeling up to it and wanted to sleep and/or watch a show, so I decided to take it easy, especially since I'd been so busy on my actual birthday and hadn't gotten to relax. I watched some episodes of Alchemy of Souls (my new favoritest show) and then went to bed early. On Thursday, I was able to go straight in to work after dropping Hudson off at school, which was a huge blessing because his school is so close to where I work that it wasn't worth having to drive all the way home and then back. The birthday wishes have been coming in all week, so I felt very loved. Work was pretty enjoyable. I feel like I am getting the hang of things pretty well and that my bosses like me. Thursday night, I was a bit of an emotional wreck and sobbed so hard that I had a killer headache the next couple of days... yikes. Crushes are the worst, that's all I can say. 

I found out that crying makes your eyes look bigger!

On Friday, I had a supervision meeting with Michele where we went over proper note-taking. Then I met with a client. Then I went home so I could go out with dad to sell my laptop to a guy. Yay, I finally sold it!! I'd also been praying for more clients at work, and THREE more fell into my lap (or should I say, calendar). From my psychology today profile. #blessings. Now I just need to start praying for some relational hours! That evening, I was so out of it. So tired and exhausted and stressed and overwhelmed. But my mom had planned a little surprise for me. They made pizzas and invited over Jasen to eat pizza and play games with us. Even Sean was there! I was so surprised and a bit stressed, but eventually, I just leaned into enjoying the night. We played the new game Jasen got me for my birthday, Bohnanza, which was super fun. Plus, it helped that I won it! ;). He'd also gotten me Harry Potter binder clips and an Aux cord for my car. And he wrote me a super sweet note.

I was so tired Saturday morning, but I got up at 6:30am to start my day and get things done. I went to Touch Angels to meet with clients all day. The tender mercy was that one of my clients refused to meet with me, so I got to go home an entire hour early! I ate food and then had to buckle down to finish homework assignments that I hadn't gotten to yet. I finished everything around 8pm and then stayed up watching Alchemy of Souls SUPER late (...or should I say, early). I just have one more episode to go!!!!!!! EEEK!!!! AHHH!!!! UKKKKK!!!! Lol. Who knew I'd get this into K-dramas? Sunday was good. I was a bit tired and groggy, but did good. We had a yummy dinner (Costa Vida copycat) and then CFM. Then I went to stake choir and had an EPIC time! They are singing some really cool gospely-vibe songs that just left me feeling so uplifted and excited. So yeah, that was my week!

Much love,

Emily Burnham