i hope they call me on a mission

i got my mission call 2ish months ago.  and i don't think a lot of you know the story behind it.  so i thought i'd tell my most fav peeps.

i submitted my mission papers on august 30th.  i got my call october 18th.  that's a long time to wait for a little packet of information that tells you where you're going to be spending the next 18 months of your life.  

the reason my call took so long?  i'm on a bunch of medication for my tourettes.  the missionary department categorizes meds in 3 classifications -- green [stable], blue [we'll watch out for you], and red [sorry, you can't go].  all of the red medications are anti-psychotics and usually people on anti-psychotics are on them for a reason. i'm on a red medicication for my TS, so i'm not psycho or anything.  but since i was on this pill i needed to be cleared stable enough to serve a mission.  so i waited.  and waited.  and waited.  and in the middle of october, i think it was october 12, my stake president texted me and said "your call has been made".  i freaked out and checked my mail box every day [including that saturday and sunday].  and it still wasn't there.  and i checked monday and tuesday and wednesday.  and nothing was there.  so finally on thursday i was on campus taking a test and i found my 2 friends and they told me "it's going to be here today"  so i brought them with me up to my apartment and we opened the mail box and boom -- there it was.  spencer was the first to say "look!  there it is!" and i thought he was playing a cruel joke on me.  but there it was.  

and i immediately called my mom.  and of course she didn't answer.  so i called my dad and i told him and i was freaking out.  and i walked into my apartment and everyone screamed and told me to open it right then and there.  but i couldnt because i had promised i'd wait for some people.  and i was okay with that.  and i totally thought it would be an easy wait.  it wasn't.

the problem with looking in the mail box at 1:45 is that a lot of people wanted to be there when i opened my call.  and i had a class at 3:15.  long story short -- i told everyone i would open my call at 7.  i went to class.  longest 1.5 hours of my life.  i came home and just started at that beautiful white envelope and thought "who decided it would be a good idea to wait until 7 to open this thing?"  changed the time to 5:45.  couldn't do homework.  wandered around my apartment.  tried to eat some food but failed because my stomach was in knots.  and then the magic time arrived.  and people started filtering in.  and i got my sisters and mom and dad and annie on skype.  and i opened my mission call with all of my favorite people in rexburg surrounding me.

 that's my best friend kim in the grey shirt with the blonde hair.  she was freaking out a little more than i was.

and i started shaking as soon as i opened the envelope.  and when i read that i was called to the utah salt lake city mission, i was still shaking.  i couldn't breathe.  and i knew that was where i was supposed to be.

and then i had to sit down because i was so happy and shaky and it was a trip.  and i had to document this perfect moment in my life because i don't want to forget it one day.

and i was talking to my friend a few days before my call came.  he said his call took a long time to get to him too.  and here is a little snippet of our convo:
A: sometimes things happen for reasons we may never know
M: yep and i guess it doesn't matter if we know or not.
  
it doesn't really matter why it took so long for my call to get here.  my mom texted me a few days before my call arrived and said "the Lord is really testing our patience."  our patience?  lolz, suze.
 
and i'm going on a mission.  i leave january 30th.  and i am so beyond thrilled.  i still smile when i look that these pictures.  and i hope everyone can experience the joy i felt when i received my mission call.  good things really do come to those who wait.  

 xoxo sister ollie

it's the most wonderful time of the year

but let's be honest...it really is the most wonderful time of the year!  and christmas deserves its own special blog post.  

so my family has a few christmas traditions-- all involving food.  the mah's just really like to eat, okay?  and if you know my mother and how fantastical of a cook she is, you would be okay with that.

every christmas eve we have our big dinner.  most mormon families i know have a christmas ham [bleh] or turkey.  but we're not typical mormons, in any way shape or form.  no.  if you come to the mah's about 4 pm on christmas eve you will walk into the house and smell the most beautiful prime rib.  and every year that prime beast just seems to get better and better.  and mama mah always makes the BEST side dishes -- last night she made 4 different kinds of potatoes-- FOUR!  who does that?  she had yams with parmsan cheese [which everyone but me and my lactose-intolerant self love], garlic fingerling potatoes, and these crispy rosemary potatoes that you have to try to understand.  and then she made me my own potatoes with my fake butter.  yay.  but mama mah outdid herself this year, just like she does every other year.  i think she felt she had to because she's got 2 girlies leaving on missions.  

and then we do the dishes, open 1-2 presents, and watch a movie.  but most everyone falls asleep after the first 30 minutes, is on their phone, or becomes uninterested.  

but christmas is the BEST at our house.  and this year we had a few miracles:

[1] dad liked the tie we bought him.

my father has VERY precise taste and usually asks for white socks or workout shirts from my mom for christmas.  he always says "if i want something, i'll buy it for myself".  so it's a little difficult to shop for robbie; ALSO because his birthday is 4 days after christmas.  so the most difficult person in the world to shop for his christmas AND his birthday within a week of each other.  so sister millie picked out  a tie and he opened it and stared at it for 5 seconds and proclaimed "i love this".  christmas miracle #1.

and that's about it.  but, like i said before, this miracle deserves to be documeneted.

 xoxo christmas lovin' ollie