finding Milly

My favorite times are when I feel so incredibly blessed for no particular reason. I love my life, my Family, my Friends, my job, school and my Lord so much. I feel I might burst.

Find joy in the little things and you'll find yourself.

midnight and still runnin.

I just made a necklace for a friend's brides maids. All of it was her idea/ideas from Etsy, I really like the end product, however, I feel like something is missing. Insight from you artsy-fartsy friends out there would be greatly appreciated.

I just have to say: life is amazing, isn't it?

I mean really. Let me tell you something that makes me so happy. I LOVE spring. I am so happy it is here to grace us with its presence. It has been pretty warm, there are blossoms on the trees, the grass is beginning to get more and more green and it's getting closer to SUMMER!!! I love LOVE summer. Here's to just a few more weeks. And here's my latest favorite of spring:

This is an old barn by my parents' house. The house in which I grew up. The wind was blowing a little and the branches were moving when I took the picture. At first I didn't like this, but then I was looking at it and the only thing in motion is that tree. This old barn has been constant for decades as life around it has been in motion. This may be cheesy, but I really love this photo for that reason.

This is at the park across the street from where I work at Sugarhouse Veterinary Hospital. I like the contrast of a tree that hasn't quite awakened from its winter sleep and the tree blossoming with life.

This is also across the street from where I work. This makes me want to go take a nap outside.

oh.. oopsie! JK!

Soo two days ago, I virally announced my plan for my latest bucket list cross off..... the next morning my cousin Jacque and I woke up with the FLU! we are still not better and we had to cancel our extravaganza for tomorrow. HOW SAD IS THAT! however, I will have you know, I would definitely rather be sick on vacation with Miss Jacque Cortez than with any other person on the planet. That's how much I love her! This girl is amazing!

i mean, look at that beautiful face. she's got a beautiful soul to match it. We've definitely had some cousinly bonding as we are hacking up lungs and looking/ feeling like death.... She's been taking good care of me, always willing to get me some tea and asking how i'm feeling and has been making sure I am the most comfortable. Such a good hostess, amazing cousin and stellar friend. I love you Jacque!!!

Carpe Diem!

Hello, blogging world! I decided I may be the worst blogger in the world, but that is ok. That just means there is always room for improvement, right? Plus, let's be honest, my life hasn't been THE most exciting ever as of late. School full time+work full time=BOE-RING. But, I do have to say, I can update that picture. The one up top. Yes, the Bucket List! I get to knock one thing off of it! I sang in front of a crowd! However, it was not exactly how I wanted to do it. If you want you can view the video of my friends and I bustin up Karaoke night at Provo Beach Resort right here. I am still going to actually sing in front of a crowd, and not just all sillily like. But, for reals. This was just to break the ice, I guess ;)

BUT I have even BIGGER news!! You wanna hear it? Are you ready for this? Are you SURE?! Ok. here it is.....

I, Mikelle Iva Latimer, am going

SKYDIVING

on Saturday with my dear cousin Jacque. HOW FANTASTIC IS THAT?! I am so excited for it. SO excited! I pray that my parachute actually goes off and that I do not die... because, I mean really, how can I leave such a great bucket list hangin, you know what I mean?

Well, peace out, homies. Pray my parachute works and that I don't fudge my huggies.

3 Cheers for Carpe Diem!!!

PS. There is a typo. It is not the WHOLE family. We are missing Marianne. and oh, how we missed you and your sweet family, Merm!

Happy Sunday!

This past week was Thanksgiving week. I love Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite holidays! We all got together at my sister Carolynn's house and had a big feast. Let me tell you, we have some amazing cooks in the family!

Mom made the turkey and stuffing, and dad did the honors of cutting the turkey;

Carolynn made some amazing pies with turkey and leaf cut-outs;

Neat detail on the pies.

She also baked the rolls that Christian got from Texas Roadhouse... OHHH MY WORRD. so good.

The gorging commenced!

Grandpa Lou the Kids' table Corby and Carolynn

The kids had a blast!!

Sawyer and "Gampa Gooey"

I love this picture of Mom and Averie!

Amanda, Saaaaawwwyer, and Jared

Oh my goodness gracious! Brigg got a hold of Cade's Guitar. This could have ended bad because I'm pretty sure that guitar isn't cheap, but instead of taking it from him right off the bat to avoid an expensive catastrophe, I snapped some of the cutest dang pictures you ever saw!

Darian and Dalton!

me and "my dear, sweet, Wesley"
I like this picture of me and my brother. Love you Squish!

The hungry hungry boys ready for dinner!

this picture took FOREVER to take. we couldn't get Brigg out of that little brown bucket thing.

Quite possibly the coolest aunt and uncle in the world. Kami and Darin.

I thought this was kind of a cool picture..

We were lucky to have Emily and Andrew come and eat with us :D

ummm, this little girl is insanely gorgeous! My niece, Gracie

Jennie: Why is the dragon's name "Puff"?

Well, folks, that about does it for this blog entry. Thanksgiving was wonderful with the whole family. I am so blessed to have the family that I do. I love them with all my heart. One of our traditions as a family is for everyone to take a turn and say what they are most grateful for. Every single person in that beautiful house said their Family. I am so grateful for my family. I am so thankful that we get along the way we do and that we actually enjoy being with each other. I am grateful that I love each of my in-laws and consider them my brothers and sisters.

The other thing I said I was grateful for, when it came to be my turn, was the gift of Choice. No matter what happens to us in this life, we will always have choice. That was a very pricey gift given to us from our Savior, Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven. I love them, I know they live and love us and are rooting for us to make the right choices. To make the choice to do good, to be happy with whatever we have, and to do our best with every situation in which we are placed. Let us keep that in mind at the beginning of this Christmas season, as we celebrate the birth of our dear Brother, Savior and Friend, Jesus Christ.

Until next post.

The Bucket List and Plane Jane Me

Hello, again, blog! I decided to come back into the blogging world again, or really, for the first time. (This time it's for reals.) I set an early New Year's Resolution: to just accomplish as much as I can, and then blog about it. How many times do we say we are going to do something and then we don't? STORY OF MY LIFE! So here I am, at my new Mac Book Pro (which I bought for school and LOVE) making a resolution to accomplish ALL THAT I CAN and be accountable to at least one thing, which is my blog.

I was going through some journals from the mission. Reminiscing. Smiling. Nostalgic and honestly feeling a little bit empty. Those were the days when my life was filled with such purpose. My job was the most important job I could ever be doing at that time in my life. I was helping others come to a knowledge of TRUTH. Not relative truth; but real, true blue, things as they really are, truth. I was helping people understand who they ARE and help them find the answers to questions they had been asking all of their lives by simply knocking on their door or following a prompting from the spirit. I can't tell you how many times I was reminded how truly AWARE our Heavenly Father is of His children, us. How incredible is that job? I am grateful for the opportunity I had to serve and to see and feel how real that love is first hand...

Now, my job is to assist my daddy in saving animals or just fixing them so they don't over-populate the earth... I love my job now, but I feel I've been deflated of purpose. I want to feel driven again. This is my reason for The Bucket List... and this sophisticated and highly mature URL: millystinks.blogspot.com, is my means of journaling my goals for my life. An internet checklist if you will and a way to get more attention than I probably deserve.

Each step I make I will blog about and share my experience. As you can see, this bucket list has been in my journals for years. I can already mark the top one off! I will probably add more things to this list as time rolls on and some things may sluff off of the list too. Hopefully more things will be marked with X's by the time I'm through.

This is how far along I am though:

-I am going to College at Salt Lake Community College, where I am planning on getting a certificate to be a Surgical Technician. After I receive my certificate and get a job, I will go to a University to work towards my bachelor's degree.

-I have picked up the book "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand at LEAST 3 times. It has One thousand, one hundred, sixty-eight pages. That is a really really big book.

-One of the classes I have signed up for next semester is Photography. My first one in college! Woop Woop!! Wish me luck!

Thank you for humoring me by reading this first post of a new chapter of my blog. Oh, and allow me to introduce my new and improved self:

Plane Jane Me.