One Year Ago Today...

            Last May 30th, I flew into the Salt Lake Airport after completing my one year and a half mission in Novosibirsk Mission.   I cannot believe that it has been a year!  It feels like I was just on my mission walking the streets of Siberia talking to the people that I love about my Savior and His gospel, but at the same it also feels like a lifetime ago, almost like a dream. 

            When I was on my mission, Elder Holland came to the MTC and spoke to us about his mission (pretty sure he does that like every couple of months because it is so well know and so life changing.)  I remember that he said, "my mission meant everything to me", he went on to say that everything good that has happened to him since and all that is good in his life is because of his mission.  Looking back on my life and the blessings that I have, I have found that I too can say this about my life.

~Family

            Heavenly Father took care of my family while I was gone and I feel like we have grown closer together and our relationships have strengthened.   Two great men, Matt and Ian, were added to my family to take care of my sisters when I was too far away to do so.  They are all so happy and I am thankful for them .   And my brother Jake-he turned into a man himself! I was hoping to be a good example for him but he has been the example for me.

~Testimony

            Before my mission I had a strong testimony, as I was being set apart my stake president promised that I would come home with, "a flaming fire of a testimony".  I am so thankful for the refining fire of the mission that has helped me develop closer relationships with my Savior and my Heavenly Father.

~Major

            My mission president, President Gibbons, told me to pay attention to revelation received about my future. I am so grateful that I was able to find out the path that the Lord had for me.  I decided to change my course of studies to Family History and I am happy about it and looking forward to where it can take me.

~Jacob :)

            Never would have met this good looking kid if it hadn't been for the mission!  He is so great and I am so blessed to have him in my life to be my best friend. 

~Mission Friends

            All of the great sisters and elders, senior couples, and my mission presidents and their wives!  All of these people have shaped me into who I am and continue to be important in my life.  It is so great to be able to have them still in my life! 

            There is so much more that I could say but this is long enough :) I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father and His vision of my life,  leading me and putting people and situations in my life that will help grow into who I need to be.  I, like Elder Holland can say that, "my mission meant everything to me". 

Road Trip to Vegas!

Tierre, Spencer, Jacob and I decided to get away for the weekend. Tierre is from Las Vegas and Elder Topham's homecoming was that weekend and we figured those were good enough reasons to hop in the car and drive!  

 

I, of course had to begin the trip with me being annoying and taking pictures of everybody :)  We had a great drive to Vegas and on the way stopped in St. George to see our newly engaged friends, Christina Erekson and Chris Bowler, they look so happy! and it was fun to hear their story of how it all happened!  

We got to Vegas safe and sound and happy to have a nice home to go to.  Tierre has a beautiful home and an even greater family!  They were so sweet to make us feel at home and to take care of us.

Saturday morning we went on a long hot hike!  As I said, it was a little warm for my tastes, but it was beautiful and a good way to start the morning!  (I will have to get pictures from Tierre's mom)  We cooled off in the pool at Tierre's and headed out!

THE STRIP

Yep. There was a big high heeled shoe in one of the casinos! We had to take a picture in it and we had to convince the boys to as well :)

The Coca Cola bear!  This store along with the M&M store was my personal favorite!  And if you were not aware, there is a FREE M&M 3D movie you can watch...we did. 

We watched a few of the shows at the Bellagio water fountains! We all tried to guess what the songs would be...we got them all wrong but we enjoyed them all the same!  

 

The Pawn Stars pawn shop.  It was cool!  Jacob was so excited.  And since then I have watched a couple episodes of their show and it is quite entertaining. 

Next was on to Elder Topham's homecoming! He did a great job and it was great to see him!  (This picture that was taken to document this moment, I will have to get that from him!)

 All in all it was a great trip!  We had a lot of fun and it was great to get away from everything!  Thanks guys! I love you!

Choose to Act

Today in church, the theme seemed to be that of action, of free agency, of wills, and of choice.  Sunday school was focused on the Plan of Salvation, the fact that we have an incredible gift from our Heavenly Father called free agency.  He has given us the right and the ability to choose for ourselves what we will do and how we will do it.  Relief Society was focused on God's Will, how we not only need to do His will, but that we need to strive to sanctify our hearts in order for our will to become His will.  If our hearts our pure and we have become like Him, our desires, and actions will be as His are.  One of the talks in sacrament was about being followers of Christ. "Whether or not we are followers of Christ is manifest, "by a godly walk and conversation ..walking in holiness before the Lord." (D&C 20:69).

All of this may or may not seem to be connected to everyone else, but for me it shows how we need to use our agency.  Our agency is given to us so that we can choose to become as our Savior and our Heavenly Father are, so that we can work toward the end goal that, "the will of the father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other." (Bible Dictionary, Prayer).  It is hard work to be able to sanctify ourselves to this degree but it is done step by step, little by little each day as we CHOOSE how we are going to act, what we are going to think and what kind of conversations we participate in. What a great responsibility and opportunity we have.

2 Nephi 10:23-24

 23 Therefore, ^acheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are^bfree to ^cact for yourselves—to ^dchoose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.

 24 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, ^areconcile yourselves to the^bwill of God, and not to the will of the devil and the flesh; and remember, after ye are reconciled unto God, that it is only in and through the ^cgrace of God that ye are ^dsaved.

Date with the Jakester!

Love going on dates with this handsome kid!  He is just the best brother I could have ever asked for!  I called him to see what he was doing and he said, "Do you want to go on a date?".  Um..yes I do!  So first we made him a book titled "Jake's Book of Date Ideas"  for when he actually turns 16, then we went to Joy Luck and ate a delicious meal of our favorite tangerine chicken followed by Iron Man! He is such a gentleman, drove the car, carried the keys,carried on great conversation, and opened my doors! Just you wait ladies, he is a catch! I love you Jake! 

 This kid won't smile for pictures for anything!  Such a little punk!  Oh well...

Bountiful sunsets...you can't get much better than that.  The picture just does not do it justice, but it was incredible.  I had to just stop the car on the side of the road and take it all in.

Gymnastics

            There is not enough room in a whole blog, or enough words in the world to describe my love for gymnastics and how it has made me into the person I am.   We can go back in time in another blog post and I can go into detail with that, but today's post is dedicated to the little people that I coach.  I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to teach these kids gymnastics and to help them also find the joy that comes with working hard, gaining control over the physical body and succeeding in mastering skills.  Today we held a festival for the kids to perform for their parents.  We have been practicing routines for about a month and they were so excited to be able to show their parents!  It was a very fun day I was so proud of them for remembering their routines and for being brave!

            Surprisingly, Ian (Audrey's boyfriend)  has a niece that goes there, I recognized Ian's dad and was able to talk with them!  It was good to get to know some people in my extended family of sorts!  Hopefully he doesn't mind that I put up some of the pictures that he took :)  Thanks Gordon Lonsdale!

The People in My Life this Week.

Although I didn't take many pictures this week, it was too great of a day to not document it in some way.   I am so grateful for the people in my life that I was able to spend time with. I realized today that I have a lot of different people that I interact with and we are all at different stages in our lives which makes for some interesting conversations.  Some recently returned from missions,  others married, engaged, pregnant, and others with a child or two, and even those that have grown children.  I am so thankful for all the friends that I have and all that they do for me.

Shauna-catch up phone conversations about life.

Tammy and Holly- good food at Zupas and talking about everything under the sun.

Whitney-Shopping, heart to hearts, and ice cream

Grey- for being such a blessing in my life!

Mckell-for being my new roommate, so happy to come back and see her everyday!

Kate-she is the person I call and she can call me just to eat ice cream and watch Bones, or just sit on the couch in laziness. 

Sami-listening to me talk all the time

Audrey- calling and laughing with me about silly things

Mom-Shopping and Cutlers' cranberry turkey sandwiches 

Dad- the hike and the good talk

Jake-being my brother and taking me on a date!
Abby-D.I. run and just flat out being the best ever!
Sister Margolies (Capps) - Good phone conversation, catching up and laughing.
Spencer Kelly-Ice cream, and Star Trek!
 Logan, Spencer, Stefanie, Mckell, and Abby-- Around the world ping pong! Crazy eyed ping pong, air hockey, and Disney Scene It!

Whitney!

I miss this girl so much! So glad that I have been friends with Whit since the beginning of time. We had a great time shopping and eating ice cream and just being together talking each other's ears off and laughing! Unfortunately we can't figure out how to correctly split the payment of a buy one get one 1/2 off purchase...but we DID find our new favorite ice cream at Cold Stone!  Amaretto ice cream with coconut, almond and raspberry mix ins!  MMMMMG!  I love you Mud!

Dad, Bones, and the Hike

My dad and Bones go on a hike everyday and they invited me to go today.  They totally kicked my trash.  This was my view for the majority of the hike: the back of my dad's head... 

It was hard! But it was worth it:

1. For the beautiful view

2. My legs are gonna look better tomorrow!  Woot Woot!

 My dad is a little intense, he doesn't believe in going up trails and he hates switch backs...SO...he just goes straight up the mountain!  It's crazy!

I loved all the little yellow flowers! They were beautiful!

Love my little brother Jake

Right before we took the picture Jake said "I'm not smiling for a million dollars". Haha He loves me!  We ate at Dairy Queen, I LOVE the chicken baskets with the gravy....mmmmg!  

Blast to the Past? Don't mind if I do.

Hiking the "Y" with Abby Clark

It was a gorgeous morning for  hike!  And such a good way to start out the day!  It hurt so good! It was so great,  a good view, awesome company, great conversation, and exercise all at the same time!  Can't ask for more than that!

Jessa and Ian Got Married!!

 How cute are they!?  All married and stuff.  I am so happy for them!  They have such a cute story and I love them so so much!  haha...I think that he was threatening her with the knife in the first picture...but they very nicely fed it to each other.

           Jacob was nice enough to come with me.  We had two receptions in one day, AND saw the meadows on the top of the conference center. 

                     SOOOO happy that Chelsea was there! I love this girl!

 I love Whitty and Chelsea! You guys are so beautiful!

Jake is so cool!

How am I supposed to keep up with a little brother as cool as this?!  Slacklining and lookin' good doing it!

Today I am thankful for the summer, productive days and great friends!

Abby Clark-Running and grocery shopping

Whitney Jensen-Errands, lunch, and shopping

Grey and Riley- Carpooling, work, and tumbling

Mckell-Unpacking, talking, and just being my new roomy

Stefanie- Catching up, speaking Russian, and talking about Russia!

Kate Giles is Home!

Kate is home! So naturally we decided to pamper ourselves with pedicures and manicures! It was definitely a good idea.  I am so happy to have Kate back, we were reunited this week after a 2 and 1/2 year separation while we both served missions.  She is so great and I am so happy to see the new Kate that she has become!  Love ya Kate!

 Ya. We are hand and foot models.  Kate has purple toes with polka dots too!  The polka dots bring out the inner child. Haha you wouldn't believe how long it took us to decide what colors to get!

LUNCH WITH BRYAN TAGGE!

  This picture depicts Kate's classic picture face AND the really good Philly cheese sandwich we got at Vito's!  Good call on the restaurant Bry! It was so good AND you make your own change. I like it, not to mention I support supporting small family owned businesses.