here comes the sun...do-da-do-do.

Well hey again.

I think this is the most consistantely I have blogged for a little while. There's just so much going on! And I never ever spend the time updating my Facebook anymore cause the little status box just doesn't give me quite enough room to say everything I would like to. So since a photo is worth 1,000 words I am now an addicted Instagrammer. Follow me. I'm randitherose.

Who knows if anyone really reads this, but for those of you that do. You're great. I think more than anything it's like a little therapy session for me to type out everything that's going on, and make jokes that allow me to laugh at myself. That's just good for the soul.

So as for me and Mas....

Since my last blog here is the scoop. I told you about our wonderful little apartment. Well... we are moving out. Surprise! I know. It's going to be a pain. And why would we do that. Welllll lots of different reasons. First off, we have been camping in the living room for the past two weeks because our teeny, tiny, little air conditioner only reaches one room. The living room. So our bedroom is a whopping 90 degrees most of the time... even WITH the windows open. Disadvantage of living in an apartment that is over 30 years old I suppose. Another things.... since we are running that A/C so much we are paying nearly $150 a month in electric... are you kidding me SDG&E!? PLUS our apartment is chargin us $50 a month for water, sewer, and trash. So we are paying nearly $1300 a month for an apartment that was built in 1976, doesn't have AC or a washer and dryer, has walls that are so thin that we can here the upstairs neighbors saying goodnight to each other, and windows that I swear are made of saran wrap because I can hear the neighbors sucking face at night before they go back in the house! Let's just say.... We could live somewhere a LOT nicer for that pretty little price. Promise... we have looked into it. So more news to come on our little living situation.... next time.

As far as jobs... here is a department where we are doing SO much better. Mason is still tearing it up at work and his paychecks just keep getting bigger and better! Plus he is always talking about it. Sometimes he tries to pretend that he hates the job but I can tell... he has the passion for it that he needs to be successful. So he just keeps getting better and better and happier and happier. I love a happy husband. :)

As for me... remember how I told you I was holding out for something big... I knew it was coming. Well it's coming alright... in a little teal box, with a white bow on top.





Okay. Soooo I don't have the job just yet.
But I did have a phone interview a few weeks ago for a sales associate position. The twist is that at the end of my interview and after discussing all of my management experience etc the HR lady told me she felt I would be better suited for the Assistant Sales Manager Position and encouraged me to apply for that position instead. So I accepted her offer and she sent me the proper application and the management eligibility assessment. Second interview in less than two weeks... SEPTEMBER 4TH baby! Two one on one interviews and a panel interview... And then if I get the job then it will still be a little while. It is a brand new store that they are opening in La Jolla! So I would start at a store with a brand new staff... build it from the ground up. Training would begin October 29th, they would send me to New Jersey and New York for training the first weekend in November and the store opens on November 16th! But anyways.... more news to come on that as well. Prayers please!!

Until then I did find a little part-time nannying job that is just wonderful. I watch a beautiful little boy named Jude. It's my first day today but his bright blue eyes and blonde little head of hair just make me melt. (And it is only encouraging my baby hunger.) This job ends on the 19th of October which would be perfect for the Tiffany's job. How does that happen!? What a blessing. I know God is watching out for me. And I love Him for that.

To sum it up... I just have to say. Faith, prayers, and patience make anything possible. I know it. I can see it in my life right now SO much. I seriously am in awe at all the wonderful things that are happening in my life that are small and simple, but are so so sweet. And by small and simple things, GREAT things are brought to pass. And oh-boy we are headed for GREAT things.

Until next time,

Randi j. Rose

When it's good, it's good.

Hello again from the happy Rose family in Sunny San Diego!

It's been a while so here is an update on our little family!

We moved into an apartment at the end of June. And we love it! It's perfect for us and in a nicer area too, so it's nice to feel safe when we come home at night. Its one bedroom, one bath, living room, kitchen, dining room, and plenty of storage. We STILL haven't put away the last three boxes, are borrowing a bright red couch, use blankets for curtains, and 2 blue coolers for a dining room table, but we love it :) We figure it's these little things that we will look back on in a few years and laugh at. So we are enjoying it while we can. My favorite part of our apartment is the kitchen! It's an older place, but the kitchen is all brand new. Nice hardwood floors, brand new black Kenmore appliances, new cupboards, and a brand new Hampton Bay ceiling fan over the dining room. I LOVE cooking and cleaning in my little kitchen, and Mason LOVES that it's my favorite room in the house. Being a wife for him is fun :)

Mason has been working at Toyota of San Diego for just under a month now and is doing fabulous. He is learning that when it's good it's good and when it's bad it's bad, but we are getting to the point where his good days are outweighing the bad which makes him a lot happier. As for me I am still a stay at home mommy for our little baby Maverick haha. I have had several job interviews, most of them ending in job offers, but there is always something wrong! I even accepted a job and went in for a couple of days and had to quit cause I was working with a bunch of wierd-ies. EXAMPLE:

I was working at a wax center as a front desk girl and a feminine young man who was OBSESSED with cats was training me on the computer system. The waxers were coming up between appointments to visit with him and meet me. Only, every time a young lady would come up the conversation would go like this...

(in overly enthusiastic screeching voices)
FEMININE MAN: "oh my gosh! i love you! YOU'RE A CAT!"
WAXER: "meow (insert mans name) MEOWW! I'm a kitty cat and i love you."
FEMANINE MAN: "this is randi "meow" rose, and she's a kitty cat too!"
WAXER: "aw so sweet... (example:) i'm MEOWzabeth."
ME: "sorry what was your name?"
WAXER: "Elizabeth... but you can call me MEOWzabeth. Cause i'm a cat!"

And both of them would bust into laughter. Needless to say.... I practically ran out the door.

So I continue to shop jobs and I have a few promising leads that I can hopefully secure within the next week. I waited three weeks to start that job at the wax center so that wasted a lot of time that I could have been working hard to find another job. So I am pretty bummed it didn't work out. But I know something good is coming my way. I can feel it, and I have lots of faith that I am gonna be taken care of!

More news... me and Mas are in NURSERY! We get to play with about 10 babies ages 1 - 3 for two hours every Sunday and we LOVE those little kids. (I will post a pic soon) My favorite part is helping them pray for their food at snack time. Either we get to tell them what to say in their ear or they say sweet things like... "I love Jesus Christ and His treats, Amen." Ah!! I DIE.

Also, we got our wedding pics back FINALLY and I would post just a few of my favorites but I love them all so much that I could never narrow it down. My #1 favorite from our Groomals is this one though. Waiting to have the money to get a big one printed and framed!

Moving on.

Thanks to Miss Jenna Ray, Mason and I get to go to Sea World next week! We can't wait! I got to go with my family from Utah this week which was a blast but I was def missing my man all day, and wishing I could show him everything. He hasn't been there in a long time, and it just so happens that I am  a Sea World Expert. I LOVE that place. I even wanted (secretly still want) to be a dolphin trainer there!

All in all, our life together is great. I really can't put it into words. We are learning still, every day we learn something new about each other, or our relationship, and we have trials still just like every one else. But we are learning to pick our battles, to express ourselves and not expect the other one to read our mind, and to enjoy the simple things, cause they're the best things. We love you all and we miss our Utah family and friends! But things are good out here in California. Really good :) Until next time....

All our love,

The Roses

Playing catch up....

Oh wow. These past few months are a blur! Let me give you the short version...

Mason got home from his mission March 16th. 

We got engaged April 8th.

We got married May 26th.

We moved to San Diego June 11th.

WOW right!? After three month of non-stop commotion our new life is finally settling down. We are the happiest two people ever. I love being sealed for eternity to my best friend. 

The most recent adventure is we MOVED TO SAN DIEGO! I know a lot of you are shaking your heads, saying we are crazy, to leave solid jobs, a nice apartment, family, and everything there that we had going for us. But we can't help but just feel so happy, and so blessed to be here. We can't really explain it. No, we don't have an apartment. No, we don't have jobs, (yet.) And yes, we are living on nothing but love and faith for now. But for us, that's enough. We are so happy, and loving every minute of this new adventure!

We got here on Monday night late and let me just tell you what a great husband I have okay?? I have been bugging him for a few months now about wanting a  kitten more than anything in this world. A little ball of fur that I could focus all my baby hunger and motherly craving on. I promised to take care of it and love it and make it so happy. Mason.... refused. He is slightly allergic, was not ready for a little "baby" of our own, and plain and simple... doesn't like cats. So I continued to shop in private and just ohhh & awww over all the little kittens on ksl and craigslist. I wanted one SO BAD!! On our way to San Diego my wonderful husband called me, (since he was driving the truck and I was driving my car,) and says... "you know what, I want you to have a kitten." I FREAKED out!! I got on craigslist, (and since I had already been secretly shopping san diego kittens,) knew exactly which one I wanted. Luckily, when I contacted the lady they had one little boy left, and Mason agreed to take me to pick him up on our way through town. The second I held that kitten he stated purring and loving me and I just melted. I said he was the one and Mason, without hesitation, handed the lady the money, and of we went. So now we are the proud parents to one little boy Bengal kitten. He is in to everything, all the time, tried to eat Mason's wedding ring in the middle of the night last night, got into my IB profin, and took off his jingle bell collar and hid it some where that no one can seem to find it. But he is the sweetest, most playful, cuddliest best thing ever, he purrs non-stop, loves his new home and new parents, and guess what... his dad LOVES him.

Meet our little Maverick....

Besides that I have an interview with Nordstrom in Downtown San Diego tomorrow, and Mason is working his first tent sale this weekend and trying out the car business. He also has an interview at Jerome's furniture store on Monday! We start apartment shopping next week, and Mason has made the decision to attend San Diego State University as soon as we gain residency, hopefully by next Spring.

To sum it all up... we are happy. Happy as we have ever been. We love each other more every day and just can't get over the excitement of falling asleep next to each other every night. Life can get hard sometimes, but it makes it so much easier when you have your favorite person to walk you through it. Stay tuned for more on our new adventure... :)

Love, The Roses.

10

Do you ever get to a point in your life here you look back on a specific chunk of time and just can't help but think you are the luckiest, most blessed person alive? I do. And I have been a lot lately. I remember talking with Mason before he left and making the decision together whether he was going to stay and we were going to get married, or whether he would go and I would wait. I remember struggling so badly back and forth wishing that we could just get married and call it good. I mean both were righteous decisions... temple marriage vs. serving a mission. And after all he was 23 years old. Heavenly Father wouldn't have been disappointed in either one. At one point we did call off the mission and chose marriage, but just a few days later we got our heads on straight and realized what we had to do. I can tell you that these past two years have never not once been easy. Enjoyable? Yes, of course. Did I learn a lot? Yes, more than I ever have before or ever could have had we made the opposite decision. But easy was never the word for it. It has been a constant strengthening experience for me. It strengthened my faith, my love for my Father in Heaven, my love for my gorgeous boyfriend Mason Rose, my confidence, my testimony, my trust in the Lord's plan, I could go on forever. I was able to get a good job, work hard to get back into school and choose a career path, start a savings account, help my family get to the temple to be sealed, help and support my boyfriend while he served an honorable and exemplary two year mission for our church, and most of all I was able to learn more about myself and my purpose here than I would have been able to had we taken the easy way out and just settled for who we were and married each other right off the bat. I am so grateful and so happy that I have had to struggle, had to deal with the constant, unwanted, opinions of others, had to battle with the stereotypes of girls who "wait for missionaries," and had to accept that there was no one else on Gods green Earth that understood how I was feeling or what I was thinking except for my Savior Jesus Christ, which in turn allowed me to create a personal relationship with Him. Now I am TEN DAYS away from being with my best friend, my side kick, the love of my life again and I am in a constant whirlwind of excitement and anxiety. It can't come fast enough. I can't wait to have my boyfriend back with me, hold his hand, watch movies together, run errands together, drive around and sing and take pictures together. I am so ready for that. I am so ready for the next part of my life... the part that includes Mason again... FINALLY. So here's to all you nay saying fools who said I wouldn't make it. Yes, I struggled, and it wasn't easy and yes I may have done things a little differently than you would have liked, but that's not your place to say now is it? One way or another I made it here. And that is ALL that matters. I am so blessed to know Mason and to have been a part of this experience with him. Being apart has strengthened my testimony and my love for him more than anything else that we could have gone through together would have. I am so proud of him for becoming the man that he is now, and for taking the steps to change the things that he needed to in order to get here. He is too good for me. But I will spend my whole life trying to be good enough for him if that's what it takes.... there's is nothing (aside from the gospel,) more important to me than that man. He is my everything...

I mean come on..... How could you not love this face??

TEN DAYS.

but hey.... who's counting :)

xoxo,

randi j.

HERE WE GO.

I can not begin to tell you my life in the past few weeks. I mean come on. The word stress doesn't begin to describe it. If you say overwhelmed, you're getting a little warmer. If you were to combine those two words and their meanings and make a word... that word, whatever it might be... even closer. But still not quite there.

I have ALWAYS been a very very goal oriented person. I see something I want, I say "I'm gonna get it" and I work until I do exactly that. This past weekend, I reached a goal I have been working for about two and a half years now. I have worked at Beaches Tanning Center since November of 2009. I started as a sales girl at American Fork Beaches. Since I very first started at Beaches I idolized the American Fork manager. I wanted to be her. She was a woman in a position of power and I wanted that. So I set a goal. Eventually, no matter how long it took, as long as I was employed by Beaches my goal would be to Manage American Fork. I wanted to be a manager for Beaches. And I wanted to manage one of their largest locations. So I cracked down on sales, excelled all my expected averages, and it paid off; Six months later, I was promoted and moved to manage Beaches smallest location at the time... North Orem. This was just the beginning. I managed there until I moved out of Utah to Cali at the beginning of 2011. I found a job at a tanning salon in San Diego, started as a sales girl, was promoted after 2 weeks there, and managed there until July 2011 when I moved back to Orem. When I came back to Orem, Beaches offered me a position as manager at a larger location, South Orem. I have LOVED working at South Orem. I have put a lot of hard work into that salon, I love my employees and I feel lucky to have been able to manage them. We have worked wonderfully as a team and have accomplished SO much! I am happy that my assistant manager Rebecca Morris, (*shout out!*) is stepping up and taking over that salon, she will be amazing. The reason she is stepping up?? Cause I'm moving out, and moving up.... This past Saturday afternoon I was offered the position to manage Beaches Tanning Center American Fork! I feel so privileged and so blessed to be where I am. It's gonna be a lot of work, but I can't wait to get started and put all I have into that salon and my new employees. 

I love my job. I love my employees at South Orem. And I love this opportunity that I have been given to improve as an individual employee as well as grow as a part of a new sales team. Looking forward to the challenge and the new experiences this is gonna bring! Last day at South Orem, February 29th, and first day back at American Fork, March 1st. Here we gooooo.

Thanks orem family of friends for the surprise treat this past Sunday, (the day after i found out.).... even though i couldn't tell anyone else yet, you guys were wonderful for secretly celebrating with me :)

Tayler Myers you are the sweeeeeetest for making this for me.

Short of this new and exciting change of employment scenery, I have not too much to report. Today, I am 3 weeks from the return of Elder Rose. Ummmm.... yeah I can't even talk about it. I am going nuts. I am also considering flunking out of school and just working at Beaches Tanning Center for the rest of my life. I don't know if that's healthy, or normal, to love your job that much. Eh. Oh well. Who gives. I am just in a state of shock, and totally engulfed in the exciting change that's going on right now. Eventually I'll snap back to reality. But for now, I am gonna just go ahead and soak up the euphoria that is my life. Shout out to my girl Wesley Bird for giving me a good saying to bask in the ambiance of for these next couple weeks.... Do you have this in a shirt? Can I have it if so? PLEASE.

BOOM... roasted.

I feel so blessed. I am so happy. And I am feeling so extremely excited for the BIG changes and exciting things coming up in my life! Yay for change!.... scary... but good. Oh-so good.

xoxo,

randi.

Is this real life??

I don't even know where to start. Let's start with the fact that I am sitting on my bed at 1:15 PM, woke up about an hour ago, missed both my classes and don't feel the slightest bit guilty. What is going ON!? I'll tell you what... I am so distracted by the upcoming things in my life. My best friend, Carly, got her mission call to Brazil, leaving June 13th and I am about to find out the exact TIME that Mason will be arriving at the Salt Lake Airport on March 16th. Getting one back and sending the other off. Not to mention in his e-mails to me today Mason started talking wedding dates with me and I laid in bed giggling to myself in disbelief. We need to get married before Carly leaves and that does not give us much time, but we don't mind at all. So date pending... but I assure you all it will be before June 13th in order to have my best friend there to be one of my "maid of honors." That girl is my rock. And Mason wouldn't have it any other way... I am so blessed to have a missionary boyfriend that understands and is supportive and even excited that that means we have to get married earlier than anyone would expect :) I have tried to avoid the whole "setting of the date" in order to keep him focused but he is just as excited as a kid in a candy shop. I love that boy. He is amazing and I am so blessed to have him. I can't believe I am finally here. To this point in my life. I am 32 days away from seeing Mason again face-to-face. Only four more e-mails, a couple more letters, one fast Sunday..... This is NOT real life! 

For two years I have hand written this boy at least 3 letters a month.

For two years I have written him at least one e-mail a week

In two years I have talked to him on the phone 4 times.

For two years I have worked to be better for him; To grow, and accomplish the things I needed to while he was gone, and to nourish my testimony and the testimony of those around me.

For two years I have missed him, cried for him, cried with him, wished he was here, felt unworthy to be his, and really realized the amount of love and devotion I have to him.

Sure at times I have been distracted, or tempted, or have even fallen and made mistakes, but only to get back up and to recognize each of those weak moments as a way to make myself a much stronger, much more independent person. In turn making me better for him. A better future wife and mother, a better girlfriend, and a better support for the person who matters most in my life. It's all for him.

So here goes nothing. One more month without Mason. I can do it!

As for the rest of the week... Last Friday I threw a rocking party for my employees. They have reached both our sales and membership goals, and been the highest out of all five locations three months in a row! Workin' on our fourth ;) So I ordered pizza, Rebecca brought a cake, I made them all awards and handed them out and also got custom shirts made to show em just how awesome I think they are. Here are a few pictures of some of my favorite people! I love Beaches Tanning Center... TEAM SOUTH OREM BABY!! 

My team minus a few! Katie, Me, Rebecca, Makenzie, Ashley, and Shayla.

My assistant manager Rebecca and I.

Team shirts :)

South Orem Booty

"The Bosses" ;)

Short of that I have nothing else super interesting to report. School is boring, work is wonderful, and my life is becoming more and more unreal every minute. I swear... I might lose my mind in the next month! The only thing keeping me sane is the realization that it will be so worth it once it is here. I just am ready for that moment that it all pays off... It is hard to remember sometimes, but I know that after every trial of faith comes the big blessings. So bring it on baby! I'm ready......

xoxo,

randi j.