Two more reasons....

Here are just two more reasons of why I love my job:

1. This is our office wing. My office is actually around the corner, but this is the first thing I see when I get here everyday. My co-workers are fun & festive and make me laugh.

2. This is what I am wearing today-no joke. Who doesn't love going to work in their pajamas!?!

Things I have learned from being single

My Mom reads this online magazine all the time. After reading this particular article the other day, she called me to apologize for always being so hard on me. She said reading this has helped her understand better why I do the things I do in my life. Of course it made me curious to read it!

I absolutely love everything this woman had to say! She pretty much put my life into words for me. So I thought I’d share the love with you. Enjoy!

Things I have learned from being single
By Becky Thomas
Sunday, Oct. 04, 2009

I do not know what it is like to be divorced, lose a child, a spouse, a house, a job or even a parent; but heaven knows that I have had a little experience with being single.

For the sake of this column, by "single" I mean one who has never married. Since the population of singles is increasing every day, I suspect that everyone is rubbing shoulders with a "single" adult. Perhaps this column can give you a window in to our lives.

I would love to have a column for those who have been divorced, or have experienced tremendous loss, (child, spouse, friend, family, job, house, health, etc.) so that we can have a window into your lives as well. Certainly you have learned many things, and gained wisdom and perspective that could benefit the rest of us. I would love to hear from you.

Now, take a moment and come on in to my world:

1. There are things that are worse than being single.
To me this is a no-brainer, but when people try to set us up and the only common denominator is our singleness, it makes me wonder if others might think it's the worse thing on earth and they want to rescue us from ourselves. Singleness isn't even in the ball park of the worst things that can happen to us.

2. Friends are a big part of our lives, and our single friends understand the most.
All of our friends are priceless, though not all of them understand.

3. We have perfected the art of finding purpose and meaning in almost everything.
This comes out of a need to make sense of our circumstances.

4. There are many awkward moments.

Amazingly, we live to tell about it.

5. We are fully responsible as to how we spend or waste our time.

6. Every act of kindness is appreciated.

Invitations to dinner, baptisms, recitals, athletic competitions, lunch; everything is appreciated! Even if we don't accept them all, we love being included.

7. There are a lot of empty spaces to be filled.
We often feel a need to be going and doing, so we plan and plan, and everyone says, "you are so busy." We are usually just filling empty spaces.

8. Realizing that we may not mean to others, what they mean to us.
I learned this when I began to have nieces and nephews, they meant everything to me; however they have many relatives who love them. I realized that I will never mean to them what they mean to me. Also with my married friends, as their life is preoccupied with a husband and children, I may long for their time and friendship more than they long for mine.

9. The hand of the Lord is more evident, and appreciated.
Okay, before everyone gets defensive, just indulge me! I know married people see and appreciate his hand too, but being single, we look for his hand around every corner. Evidences of his hand can be lifesaving as we are often trying to find meaning and purpose in our lives; I just can't imagine anyone appreciating it as much as we do!

10. The Law of Compensation is our favorite law.

11. Having someone to love, friends, nieces and nephews is priceless.
Yes, having people in our lives to keep our love active and flowing is crucial.

12. Hope is our best friend.
She helps us through the most difficult of times.

13. Self-pity is just around the corner, and we don't want to take that turn.
Always seems like it is just a turn away; need to be careful.

14. There are no excuses for having a dirty house.

15. We determine our activity in the church, we are not elevated or pulled down by a spouse, it's entirely up to us.

16. Life is not as we expected, but it can still be so much more than we imagined.

17. It is easy to be critical of ourselves.
Always wondering why we are not married, etc.

18. Plenty of time to watch and learn from others.

19. It is easy to feel judged.

20. We want to feel needed.

21. Having a capable and willing home teacher is amazing!

22. It is easy to become selfish.

23. It's hard to balance being independent, versus "too independent.'

I asked a few of my single friends; this is what they said:
1. Everyone struggles, just in different areas.

2. Don't pick a fight with time. There is beauty at every age.

3. Self pity is not only useless, it is narcissistic.

4. Have respect for the situation you are in.

I think that sometimes we are so busy planning for the future and trying to "climb out" of our current situation that we miss out on things that are to be learned and enjoyed.

5. I'd rather be happy and single than miserable and married.

6. Doing daily tasks and chores alone makes me appreciate the mantra "many hands make light work."

7. Being a mid-aged single gives me compassion for the senior singles who don't have mobility on their side when tackling life alone.

8. When you are single, every Sunday you go to church feels like "Singles Awareness Day."

9. Being single means having to create the inertia to move outside your comfort zone.

10. As a single woman I have learned not to take the priesthood for granted.

11. I have gained more empathy for those outside the mainstream.

I have learned the importance of being slow to judge. It always seems easy to judge that which we don't understand.

12. I have learned the importance of relying on the Savior.

When you're single, your relationships with others are often in flux. Your friends start dating someone, or they get married, or they have children, or they move away. But the Savior is always there. And I am better able to draw strength from him when I take the time to nurture my relationship with him.

13. For me, it is crucial to have goals that I can work toward.

To a large extent, whether I get married is out of my hands -- so I like having goals that help me progress and that help me feel I have a certain amount of control in my life.
Hopefully this helps you to understand the mind and heart of your single friends. I am sure we can all benefit from your insight and perspective.

KC Royals

My family goes to a Kansas City Royals baseball game together at least once a season. Because my Dad is a true (and lifelong) New York Yankees fan, we usually go when the Yankees come to town. Sometimes I even fly home for the occasion. This year, I wasn't able to go home, it wasn't a Yankees game (It was the Minnesota Twins), and sadly-the whole family wasn't there...so of course, look what ended up happening.

My brother, Martin, caught a foul ball. Well at least they got a picture and Jonathan and Cassie were sitting at his side to witness it. Sorry I missed it, big brother. Maybe next year

Another Summer Miracle

Oh the beauty of a sunset on the Mississppi River. There's nothing quite like it if you ask me!

This post is completely for my own journaling purposes. It's old and long, so you can just scroll through the pics ....because let's be honest-they're pretty.

Aug 10-15, 2009

My last EFY post ended like this:

"I love EFY. I always have, and I always will. It was a blessing to be able to work as a counselor again. Working the Missouri session was the best decision I'd made all summer. It was an amazing experience and I know exactly why I needed to be there. Heavenly Father truly loves His children here on earth. He is aware of us (me, other counselors, as well as the youth) and it is through His guiding hand and tender mercies that things happen to bless our lives for the better. I am constantly awed by the many experiences in my life that remind me of that.

From the moment I was told I could work EFY this summer, I wanted to be in Nauvoo. When the Missouri session ended, I just didn't feel like I was finished with EFY for the summer, but with full-time job responsibilities (and zero vacation time remaining) there was little I could do about it. When the Missouri session ended the midwest coordinators reminded me that I still had a contract for the Nauvoo session waiting for me to accept or decline, and I needed to do it within a week. I couldn't get myself to decline it. WHAT DID THAT MEAN?!


After a couple of days debating with myself, as crazy as it seemed, I accepted the contract. I had no idea how it would ever work out for me to be able to go in the long run. But, I figured if I followed the prompting that I kept feeling about being there in Nauvoo, then accepting it was truly a physical act of faith on my part, and the rest would work out somehow.




The Miracle:

I waited a few days and then meekly walked into my boss' office one day. He knew immediately I was nervous about something. After a bit of beating around the bush, he asked if I was ok and my response was, "I hate asking for things." He laughed at me. I proceeded to talk to him about my EFY Nauvoo opportunity and ask if there was any possibility for me. Well, it ends up his kids were EFY "alumni," so he was completely familiar with the EFY program. He was so excited for me and before I could even finish my plea, he said, "Yes! Go! This will be amazing." The catch, however, was that he couldn't authorize my absence since I was out of vacation days. It had to be apporoved by Pat, our division director. *Gulp* I knew the director knew nothing about EFY. My boss requested that I write a letter to the director to ask permission, explaining EFY, the significance of Nauvoo and how my being there would benefit the youth participating, as well as the youth at the Division of Youth Services (My place of employment) in the long run. I could do that! Well before I even had a chance to finish my "essay," my boss called me and said, "I talked to Pat. She's so excited for you to go." WOW! Seriously? Pat approved my entire work week off. (Leave without pay, which was fine since I'd be getting paid for EFY).
and off I went:
Welcome to EFY Nauvoo 2009!


I could not have been more excited to be with my friend, Alyssa again! She and I had actually been Co-counselors in Nauvoo last summer (2008) and had an absolute blast together!


My CO counselors this year were Tony and Jentri. I'd never met Tony before. He is from Dallas, TX. Previous to my arrival, Tony had held the title of "Oldest counselor on the midwest team." I dethroned him the second I walked in the door. Jentri and I met last year and became fast friends. Secretly, I had always wanted to be her co-counselor. I always admired her, so I was super excited when that wish came true. Fun fact- Jentri held the title of "Youngest counselor" on the midwest team.


I found out I had been assigned the duty of Musical Program with Eliza and Josh. It was a TON of work to put together in Nauvoo because the EFY schedule is JAM packed during that week and rehearsal time with the youth is cut in about half from other sessions. I'm just glad we had a great team. I seriously loved working with these two so closely! Eliza is one of the nicest people in the world and Josh is a hilarious, hot paramedic from the farms of Minnesota. I spent more time with Josh and Eliza than I did with my own Co-counselors. I guess you could say Josh was my COW, but I just told him that I found him to be quite "attractively entertaining." He was honored. We're still friends. This is us practicing our conducting skills.


In other news, there were some slight complications with my polo shirts. Because it was the last week of EFY for the summer, and because I hadn't been working all summer-this was the only shirt they had left for me. Luckily, our team of counselors were good at problem-solving and we made some switches to get it worked out.


Game night this time around went down in history for the hardest I have ever laughed as an EFY counselor! This was the funniest game I've ever seen in my EFY life. It was called "Crossing the Sweetwater." Each youth was assigned a pretend ailment or disabling condition by their counselor that they had to act out. One of their "rescuers" would have to help the person work through the ailment to get to the other side. Some hilarious "ailment highlights" were; explosive diarrhea, giving birth, child in an adult's body, being a dramatic teenage girl (assigned to a boy), frostbite, etc. Oh it was HILARIOUS! This girl's assigned "issue" ....She was in love with BC Chris.

And of course we did the traditional pioneer stick pull (These are 2 of my girls Erin & Rachel)


We were called the "Jones Family" that week, named after Dan Jones, who accompanied the Prophet, Joseph Smith to Carthage Jail. Our family had 18 youth (12 girls and 6 boys). For our tour of Old Nauvoo on Wednesday, I had 2/3 of the "Family" with just me. (I'm in the bright pink/ "hibiscus" shirt in this picture)...Good times on the historic streets of Old Nauvoo with "Tour guide Tiffanie!" Good thing I know my way around!


This is most of the Jones Family. Jentri and I tried for a long time to gather everyone for a "Family picture." This was the best we got:


We had the chance to take the youth to do baptisms for the dead that afternoon in the temple. It was humbling and inspiring to watch many of the youth have a beautiful experience with the Spirit. There truly is power in the House of the Lord!


That night we were privileged to attend "Sunset by the Mississippi" performed by all of the missionaries in Nauvoo. It's ridiculous fun and we were quite the crowd!





And as if that wasn't enough, we were lucky enough to be there while BYU's Vocal Point was on tour. They were AMAZING, as always. I'm a huge fan!


The rest of the week included excursions to the Pioneer cemetery, Carthage Jail, a walk along the Trail of Hope to the Exodus site off Parley Street, the fireside, testimony meetings, The Joseph Smith movie, the dance and so much more! One of my ongoing traditions for EFY Nauvoo is the fudge shop. I always go with just one of my girls during free-time. This year, Tillie was my fudge devouring accomplice. Yum!


These were my 6 beautiful girls. I had experiences this particular week with my girls that I had never had before as an EFY counselor. It was an incredible lesson to me of how important support, patience, love, and kindness are in our relationship with others. These girls were amazing! (Kyra, Tillie, Rachel, me, Ashley, Erin and Kelsey)


And of course, my friend, Jason, was there. And as usual (just as all EFY Nauvoos before)--Jason was once again my BC (or "Grandpa to my youth). They nicknamed him Grandpa JJ. It kinda made me laugh.


It was the last week of the summer, so when everything was over we had to make sure to take one of these of the "survivors." This was our midwest team of counselors. Good people!


The week was exhausting in ways I had never been exhausted from EFY before. I had multiple spiritual experiences with my youth. It reminded me of my mission and how I had so often felt such a unique love for the people. I so intensely desired for others to feel and recognize the Spirit working in their life and it was the same way for some of my youth that week. It had me in tears a couple of times actually, to see some of them struggle so much, yet have such good desires. I am so grateful for the things those youth taught me. I love EFY! I am so grateful for the miracle and tender mercy in which the hand of the Lord worked to make it possible for me to be able to go to Nauvoo this summer.

Just as I said before, "I love EFY. I always have, and I always will. It was a blessing to be able to work as a counselor again. Working the Nauvoo session was an amazing experience and I know exactly why I needed to be there. Heavenly Father truly loves His children here on earth. He is aware of us (me, other counselors, as well as the youth) and it is through His guiding hand and tender mercies that things happen to bless our lives for the better. I am constantly awed by the many experiences in my life that remind me of that.

Baby news!

April 9, 2009 was a very exciting day for me! My sister-in-law, (Breckann) had an ultrasound and she and my brother (Martin) announced to our family they would be having the first boy of the next generation! With 6 grand-daughters, my parents were relieved to know the Player family name will live on with a grandson.

On that same day, my best friend from BYU and long time roommate, (Summer) also had an ultrasound, discovering she would be having a baby girl. The most random part- Summer and Breckann had the same due date.

On the morning of July 9th (10 days or so ahead of her due date) Summer, in Provo, UT, called me to tell me she was in labor and heading to the hospital. About 2 hours later, My Mom called to tell me that Breckann, in Olathe, KS was in labor and heading to the hospital .

I spent the entire day, just super excited and waiting for baby news. I'd get updates from my Mom and random texts here and there from Summer and her husband, Ben, but soon midnight rolled around and still no babies. Summer's Mom called me from the hospital just after midnight and explained some of the crazy turns the delivery had taken, but all was well. Now the fun was just a matter of who would come first, my nephew or my "surrogate" niece.

Central time zone-
July 10th, 2009 at 2:43am
Davin Storm Player entered the world and joined the Player family. As is the tradition with Martin & Breckann-Davin was named after a Star Wars character. click here



Martin and his son -sooo cute!

Here's the rest of the family (with Mom & big sisters, Annaka and Kali)

Aunt Tiffanie officially welcomes you to the family, Davin!

Also on July 10, 2009, just 27 minutes behind Davin (Mountain Time zone)
Eleanor Lee Lewis was born at 2:10am. Summer's Mom sent me a picture right away with her camera phone to give me the "official news." I was at the hospital first thing the next morning in Provo to visit Summer and meet baby Ellie.

Here's Ellie with her "Aunt Tiffanie" at her baby blessing a couple of weeks later.

With ultrasounds on the same day, same due dates, and arriving early with the same birthday, I'm convinced Davin and Ellie are destined to marry each other! Summer says, "Player would be a really cool last name!"..... (I agree)

EFY Missouri June 29- July 4

I feel stupid for taking you back this far, but I can't just pretend like my summer didn't happen. So here's a happy flashback. The story of how it all happened is pretty amazing. I would be an ungrateful person if I didn't share it. So here's the story, followed with mostly just a lot of favorite pictures from the week. I hope you enjoy it.

On my 29th birthday, one of my bestest friends from EFY (Jason), informed me of the disappointing news that the EFY office had put an age limit on counselor applications. "Female counselors must be between the ages of 20-28." Well Happy Birthday to me! Thanks Jason. I was totally bummed, however, working full-time in my career in Salt Lake City, I knew I didn't really have time nor flexibility to do the EFY thing anymore, so I hadn't planned on applying.

Well just when I thought adult life was taking over and I was going to be forced into retirement, the EFY office contacted me and asked if I would work this summer! The age rule didn't apply to ME. So being the sucker for EFY that I am....of course I said YES and was beyond excited to be back at it again!

There were only 3 sessions that I could possibly do because of my work responsibilities during the summer (Missouri, Nauvoo 1 and Nauvoo 2). I only had enough vacation time to do one of those weeks. It was a hard decision to say the least. My first choice was Nauvoo 2-the last session of the summer. You all know I'm not one to ever pass up a reason to go to Nauvoo, so Nauvoo 1 followed as my 2nd choice and Missouri (the home session) as my 3rd choice. I was still a little surprised they had moved the Kansas EFY session from the KU campus, (where it's been every year since 1996), to the Missouri campus, so I felt less pull/ less loyalty to EFY Missouri.

I'd hoped the office would just assign me where they wanted me to go so I wouldn't have to make the decision myself. I emailed them my preferences and they said, "We want you for all 3, so you'll have to choose." (Isn't that always the way!!) I found out my niece was coming to visit me in SLC during Nauvoo 1, so that took care of that option, so to me the choice was obvious...Nauvoo 2. Well, as I was online to decline the offer to work the Missouri session, I couldn't get myself to do it. It literally made me sick to my stomach everytime I'd try to hit the decline button, so I knew something was telling me to reconsider. I reconsidered with prayer and knew without a doubt I was supposed to go to Missouri. So I did. This was the result:

*Our company name was "Prepare a Way" which came from 1 Nephi 3:7

*For the first time in my "EFY career", I was the only female counselor, and had 2 guy Co-counselors. Spencer and Matt. They were fantastic! We had a great time together.


*Our company was an unusual EFY phenomenon of 21 guys and 9 girls! that never happens, but it was PERFECTLY what those particular youth needed!

*Not that it makes any huge difference, but for my first time at EFY, I had a youth in my group who was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I tried to beat him up for it. (ok, not really, but this picture really does make me laugh every time I see it). It did add a special opportunity to teach and answer questions and watch the youth have a missionary experience as well. Larry was baptized a month later on Aug 8th, 2009.

*One of my girls, (Kairsti) and I were almost twinners! She made her dress...isn't it awesome?! The youth are so amazing

*It is tradition for me to take a picture with all of the Young Women from the Olathe 3rd ward (my homeward) at EFY. So here it is! (I was lucky enough to have one of these girls (Valerie) in my group too!)

*This picture just rocks...no explanation needed!

*I was assigned to Variety Show duty with BC Ashley and another counselor, Matt (who I actually already knew from my time living in the Lawrence University ward back in Kansas). We spent long hours together sorting through all of the amazing, creative, hilarious (and sometimes painful) tryouts.

I think we started to get a little crazy with all of our time together. We found the most ridiculous ways to entertain ourselves after awhile. Ashley's performance of "Newsies" was definitely a favorite. This was our reenactment of our favorite acts from the variety show. (Synchronized swimmers, the Sons of Provo and "Yeah Toast")


*We were blessed to have an entire company of fantastic youth with firm testimonies and amazing spirits. This was the service project... Look how happy they are to serve! Such a great group of youth!

*Pizza night at EFY is a long time tradition. Well in Missouri, the dorms were brand new and since the campus wasn't familiar with EFY-they wouldn't allow us to have food in the dorms. So another first- we had pizza night together as companies outside after game night. I LOVED IT!!!!

* One of my favorite things about this particular group of youth were how easy it was to just chill with them. They were excited about everything and willing to just have a great time!

*I felt really close to all 9 of my girls and really had so much respect for them. It was great to just sit and hang out together for girl time.

*One of my girls, Chelsea, and I totally bonded. We shared a lot of good talks together, cool experiences and a lot of laughs as well. I spent a lot of time with ALL of my girls, but Chelsea and I always seemed to be at the same place at the same time (classes, hallways, lunch tables, etc). I guess she wasn't used to a counselor being around so much because she nicknamed me "Creeper." This picture cracks me up, because honestly...who's "creeping" who?

It became Chelsea's personal goal to get me married off to BC Jason by the end of the week. Ha! Little did she know he and I are already the best of friends and pretty much surrogate siblings to each other. (Yes, the same Jason who broke the "too old" news to me on my birthday). My age is one of Jason's favorite things to remind me about.....often! Oh well. We have so much fun. Jason consistently had been keeping me posted on his EFY adventures throughout the summer, and I was always jealous of his fun. It was AWESOME to actually be there with him, to be a part of the stories and to have a chance to work together again.

* I love EFY. I always have, and I always will. It was a blessing to be able to work as a counselor again. Working the Missouri session was the best decision I'd made all summer. It was an amazing experience and I know exactly why I needed to be there. Heavenly Father truly loves His children here on earth. He is aware of us (me, other counselors, as well as the youth) and it is through His guiding hand and tender mercies that things happen to bless our lives for the better. I am constantly awed by the many experiences in my life that remind me of that.

Summertime 2009 June (Idaho)

My oldest brother, James, is what one would call a fitness fanatic! He's the one who challenged me to do a half marathon by the end of the year. (I should have sent my physical therapy bills to him)... oh well.

Day 1: I flew to Boise, ID and met up with James and his family who drove in from Sacramento, CA. We stayed with some friends who we grew up with in Kansas. My nieces LOVED having their kids to play with, in fact- I camped out in the backyard!!! My Sis-in-law wouldn't let the girls sleep out there without an adult and I was the only adult willing to be the one to camp out in the tent with the 6 kids who wanted to. (all under the age of 10). It was AWESOME!

Day 2: We all went white water rafting on the Payette River. It was just a short river trip, but definitely the best run I've ever done! In about 2 hours time, we went 8 miles and hit fantastic rapids about every 5-10 minutes. The water was freezing cold since it was still so early in the season, but the rafting company was kind enough to provide us all with full wetsuits.


My nieces had no idea what to expect, and some admitted they were a bit scared. As you can see little 10 yr old Jasmine was up front and paddling like crazy!! She got totally rocked! It was hilarious. Lily (12) and Iris (8) were next to me (Iris in the middle, holding on for dear life) and miraculously- no one fell out. We all had a blast and the girls totally loved it! (Holly (14) isn't in the pictures because she was in the other raft with the family we stayed with).





Day 3: I witnessed my brother compete in, and complete (with an amazing finish time) the Boise Half Ironman (2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 13.1 mile run).


The weather was horrible the whole time, but he still did amazing! He finished in 5 hours and 11 minutes! This is my sister-in-law getting creative with fighting the random cold that blew in just before the swim started.


Swim 2.5 miles in the reservoir


Transitioning to bike:


Off to Bike 112 miles in the piercing rain:



And I don't have pictures of the 13.1 mile run part (oops). He's crazy, if you ask me, but way to go big bro!