Dear Elder

I just got an email from my baby brother in the MTC. He just cracks me up! Today he mentioned a little competition. This is a direct quote from his email, just don't mind the spelling errors, he's being timed so spelling correctly isn't exactly important to him.

"Umm, I love recieving letters and packages from home, so everyone, don't be afraid to continue sending letters and packages. Dear Elder is easy and fast, hand written are pretty and packages rock.

Also were having a little ummm... how you say "way to keep track of" how many letters the members in my district recieve from girls not related to us.
1 Point per Dear Elder per person per day
1 Point per page of hand written letter up til 6, then it starts going back down
10 points for packages.

So yeah, if any of you know girls not related to me that would like to message me, I jsut might happen to get a higher level of points than other missionaries in my district (Win the competition)"

So I don't know, maybe some of my female readers want to help me help him win this competition? If you do, I've included instructions on how to write him a message for FREE using dearelder.com. If you are wanting to send him a package or a hand-written letter, email me and I can give you that info as well. Also, I should mention that you don't need to be a female to write him.

You can write him anything supportive. If you're not sure of what to say, maybe just wish him luck reaching his goals and learning things in the MTC. I know that being away from all things familiar is really rough so he could really just use some encouraging words. I really hope you can all take a few minutes out of your day to help me support him.


How to write my brother using Dear Elder
Go to dearelder.com. Under the drop down tab that is labeled "Select Mission" choose Provo MTC -- Free. Guess what, it's FREE! Then click on the button just below that says "Write a letter"

Now you'll see a picture of an evelope with boxes for you to fill in. Write your information in the upper left hand corner of the envelope. Then fill in the information as follows:

Title: Elder
First Name: Randall
Last Name: Cloud
MTC Box #: 92
Mission Code or Mission: EQU-QUI 1201
Estimated MTC Departure Date: 01 December

Then below, fill in your email in the appropriate box.

Finally, you are ready to send Randall a message!

Thank you to everyone that takes the time to do this. I can't say enough how much it would mean!

Goodbye Randall

I've put off writing about this a little bit because the emotions are still fresh. Yesterday I said goodbye to my youngest brother. He is going to be serving a mission in Quito, Ecuador for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Yesterday the family accompanied him to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah to say goodbye. He will be gone for two years and I'll be nearly 25 the next time I see him. I'm going to miss him so much, but I'm so proud of him. I can tell he's excited for this opportunity and I know he'll do great. All I can hope is that he doesn't grow too much while he's away, he already towers over me!

Early morning, lunchtime and a bad habit

First off, I woke up at 3AM this morning.
Try as I might, I couldn't go back to sleep. My brain automatically starting running through the routine that I had to teach this morning to get ready for homecoming.
I had to be up at 4 anyway to get ready for practice, but I was still bugged. I so could've used that extra hour of sleep.

Despite the early morning, my day has ended up being splendid. The boots that I ordered from Gojane.com arrived today. It made me actually excited for the cooler weather that we're scheduled to have this weekend. Troy brought in these delicious cookies that his sweet wife made. Also, Marrdy stopped by today so we got to chat before I left for lunch.

At lunch, I went to the office where my sister and one of my brothers work. I visited with the two of them for a bit before heading back to work.

Steph took this photo and I really liked the composition of it. Go Steph!


Here, Adam and I are posing like a bunch of fools!



Here is Steph sporting the skirt that I made her. Look at her cute pregnant belly.


Today I am wearing a dress I picked up from Target a few weeks ago. Their current Go International collection is super cute!








I got these shoes back when I hosted a shoe party. I got all kinds of discounts on top of the already low prices so they were super cheap!


Now lets talk about a bad habit I've picked up sometime over the last few months.

Take a peak in the upper left hand corner at my finger nails.

Ugly, right?

Every time I paint my nails, the next day I start to pick at the polish. It is not something that I conciously do, I just look down and notice I've chipped off half the polish. I really hate that I do this because I'm constantly having to repaint my nails.

Any suggestions on how to quit this bad habit?

VisionCloud Studio

Okay, okay, I know I've bragged about my siblings many times before, such as when I was trying to win a contest or when my heart was broken, but I really would not feel right if I didn't bring up my youngest brother's new website, VisionCloud Studio.

I think I've mentioned his Nerf gun obsession on here in passing and even showed you a picture of part his collection.


Now he's up to some pretty awesome stuff with Nerf guns. He is now making and selling really awesome looking customizable Nerf guns. I'm talking really cool here. I don't even care or know about Nerf guns and I think these are outrageous awesome!



Talk about the perfect gift for your boyfriend, brother or son, right?
Take a look at this one available on ebay for loads more photos and information!
You know you want to!

My brothers are better than yours

nyah, nyah!

Okay, fine. I probably don't know your brother, but I like both of mine, a lot.
Back in the day, I told you about my pretty awesome siblings coming to the rescue on a pretty terrible day for me.

Well, here is another reason why I love my siblings.

I've been pleading, begging and being pathetically hopeful for votes for the contest I'm a semi-finalist in. My youngest brother responded to my begging/email with this link.

My other brother posted the link to the contest in his chat server and on google talk.

You can't tell me they're not awesome, even if you like your brother more.

Now go here and vote!

My siblings are better than yours.

I've been been having one of the worst days of my life today. There have been so many supportive people that have been here for me today. My boss took me out to lunch, one of my coworkers brought me starbucks, my mom gave me some helpful advice, those few supportive friends that have been keeping my mind distracted all day...
I want to thank you so much. You've made this day bareable for me.

...but then, about twenty minutes ago, three people I know walked in my office.
Stephanie, Adam and Randall. My sister and brothers.
The brought me flowers!

Of course, it made me start crying again, but it was nice to be loved.

Thank you to everyone that has been there for me and thanks to my siblings for being so great! I love you!