Temple Square

So, I went today with my good friend Jared Wight to temple square-which I thought I had seen it all, but it gave us something to do while we caught up since we havn't seen eachother in years!  And well, we're walking along avoiding missionaries as best we could be cause they're EVERYWHERE and its always kinda akward because they should be talking to the tourists and nonmembers right?  Well, some got us when we stepped inside the tabernacle.  We chatted for a minute or two, and then asked them if there was anything we should see specifically-I expected them to say the Christus Statue, but was surprised to hear about this presentation on the family (only half surprised)  that most people don't know about because its in a room back behind the Christus-anyways, so we say sure. And oy-it was so good.  Of course, cheezey acting was part of it, but the message was about eternal families-and they were right, there were parts in it for everybody.  It started as just something to do, but ended up being a kinda poinant personal experience for me.  Good suggestion Jared/Sister Missionaries!  Thank you!

Road Trip!

What an adventure that was!  We set out at about 8:15 Wednesday Morning, and about 2 hrs into it, had to stop.  Apparently, there was a Semi turned over that was carrying tanks of Diesel and so east bound I-80 was completely shut down for the day-maybe even through the night while they tried to clean it all up.  :P  So, at the gas station, we got directions around it-which included back tracking 45 mins, and then taking a road through another town and then getting onto Highway 50 and taking that through the Eldorado National Forest.  Which-was kinda stressfull since Sid had to be to Utah for a hearing, and there was alot of rain which had the possibility of turning into Snow (Which would be really bad in California) and it was way far out of the way, but the scenery-was AMAZING!  So Beautiful.  I was amazed at the size of some of the trees there-I have a feeling that I'm really going to LOVE the redwoods.  Highway 80 took us up to lake Tahoe-which was Also a beautiful sight.    But, After we got through there, we headed up toward Carson City Nevada, and then to Reno-then hopped back onto I-80.  I was actually surprised at Nevada's scenery.  I drove from Reno to Elko-and really enjoyed it.  I guess I had pictured Nevada to be really really flat and brown and boring.  It was kinda boring...but there were some hills and it was mostly brown but there was also some green.  So, I enjoyed it.  Plus for part of the way we had watermelon, and watermelon makes everything better.  :)

Save me SanFrancisco!

So, I've rather been enjoying some long lost down time!  Thursday we landed, dropped Travis off at his Apartment and headed back to Livermore-I just showered slept and plunked on the computer for the day.  It was awesome!  Friday, I went for a nice adventure walk, got a little more comfortable here, and went with Sid to his ward party-again, there was lots of down time, but I decided I really like it!   : D  Saturday, Sid helped me figure out the Train and busses to get to The Presidio, and then we adventured with Travis and his roommate Anton, and went to a violin preformance at the Oakland Temple Insterstake building-it was a wonderful preformance by Jenny Oaks Baker.  Note to 4th Branchians, tell Eva!  Eva I think would REALLY like her, we heard peices from her album "Then Sings my Soul, "  best ones if you ask me were Nimrod(Absolutely beautiful, despite the name) and Finlandia (a classical peice that also happens to be the hymn "Be still my soul").  Beautiful woman with a beautiful talent.  Sunday, I went to Sid's Family ward, which rocks, I like them alot.  And then Later I went to the TriValley YSA ward Fireside at the bishops house (Sids Bishops daughter goes to that ward, so, made my connections! YAY).  Which was good, and fun as there were games afterwards.  So now, I'll know a few people when I go to church there.  Woohoo!

Coming up, on Wednesday me and Sid are driving to Utah to get Alex.  We'll be there Thru Monday night, which I'm kinda happy about.  You see, Monday is not only memorial day, but its also May 31st.  12 Yrs ago May 31s was memorial day, and this year not just the 31st, but Memorial Day itself marks the 12th anniversary of my dads passing.  I feel it to be especially fitting that I can go to his graveside this year, just as the calendar has come in one full circle, I feel that my life has reached a point when I can come back full circle, and look at the events in my past without self pity.  There was a time when I wanted to blame everything that happened to me in the last 12 rs on the fact that my dad was taken from this life-but now I can accept the reality that things happen for reasons we don't understand.  And that hard things happen, and that unfair things happen, but that the atonement will make it all alright.  Maybe not now, but with time, with faith, with obedience, I can find peace and assurance in my hope for eternal life.

We made it!

So, I have this habit of not packing till the day I leave (or in some cases the night I leave), so Wednesday morning came around and what did I have to do-everything!  But, long boring story short, I managed, with some time to spare. At 8 Travis and his mom came and picked me up and I had to say goodbye to Elyse and Liam and mommy, that was kinda hard.  I feel like I'm missing such a big chunk of time, like they'll be all grown up when I see them at the end of the summer-so that was kinda hard.  What I didn't expect to have a hard time with, was wanting to go see Robin.  I mean, she's just half an hour away!!!!  I think i'd be better handling it except her mission home called Wednesday morning asking if they could test her for Celiac's disease (inability to really digest gluten)-GAH!  My sister is just half an hour away and sick and I can't go see her and make it better.  :P  Bleh, thats what I think about that.


Anyways, coming into San Fransico was awesome, the weather was bright, warm and clear and we saw the golden gate bridge from the airplane.  I guess part of me wanted to see it because people have said its so cool, but from pictures, to be honest, I wasn't that impressed.  However, flying past it, and then driving past it later, I decided its actually really cool-its a big arrangement of the red steel and cables, but it just has this charm to it....I like it, and want to go see it up close again.  Travis lives practically at the bottom of it, and his front window has a veiw of the bridge, the bay and the big beautiful trees.  Alot of them are eucalyptus and so it smells really nice there too.  Saturday the plan is to figure out the busses back into the presidio and then to explore the City with him and Uncle Sid.


So excited, and loving the sunshine, can't wait till my cousin Alex is here so I can take him around with me to explore-for the meantime, I'm just enjoying the down time.  Its a strange feeling, I havn't had this much down time in ages, theres no chores nagging at the back of my head, no homework pressure on my mind, no appointments or meetings scheduled-its pretty sweet.  It probably won't happen again for a while, so-soaking it up now while I can!  YAY!  

6 days and counting!

In 6 days, Travis and I fly to California.  Why might you ask?  Because he will become a Jedi this summer at the Lucas Film Jedi internship, and I will be playingwith Nanny-ing my 6 yr old cousin and dancing.  Hehehehehe!  I can't wait!  Some of the things I will be doing:

My uncle Sid said that he has a friend who works at some stables-we could go ride horses everyday if we wanted!  I'll be able to ride like this when we're done.

Sid also Lives 3 miles away from an Arthur Murray Dance Studio, I've emailed them and got my appointment for my first lesson set up :D

Some of ^This^ too.  :)

I hope lots of this

But don't worry, I'll be their best customer: 

I'd love to see these:

I'll keep you posted.  

Tuesdays With Morrie

Sometimes, I get on myself, because I see all this sadness around me, and I want to cry but I feel like I'm supposed to be strong, be faithful-but even Jesus wept.

I think Mitch Albom put it best as he quoted Morrie in his book, Tuesdays with Morrie
"I give myself a good cry if I need it. But then I concentrate on the good things still in my life. I don't allow myself any more self-pity than that. A little each every morning, a few tears, and that's all. "  
  

Mothers Day

So, today I was asked to speak at church on my thoughts and feelings from Elder Christofferson's visit, and with is also being Mothers Day, the best way I could think to go with it, was Charity.  Charity is the pure Love of Christ-as the scriptures declare, "And again, my beloved brethren, I would speak unto you concerning hope. How is it that ye can attain unto faith, save ye shall have hope?  And what is it that ye shall hope for? Behold I say unto you that ye shall have hope through the atonement of Christ and the power of his resurrection, to be raised unto life eternal, and this because of your faith in him according to the promise.  Wherefore, if a man have faith he must needs have hope; for without faith there cannot be any hope.  And again, behold I say unto you that he cannot have faith and hope, save he shall be meek, and lowly of heart.  If so, his faith and hope is vain, for none is acceptable before God, save the meek and lowly in heart; and if a man be meek and lowly in heart, and confesses by the power of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, he must needs have charity; for if he have not charity he is nothing; wherefore he must needs have charity.  And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.  Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen." (Moroni 7:40-48)

Mothers are special, but mine is extra special.

She has always been an example of charity-a pure love that transcends earthy limits.  Because of Charity, she has been a fountain of selfless service.  After my dad died, she had to raise 3 grieving girls while dealing with her own grief.  She had to go back to school-and she did a paper route from 2-7 am to support us.  She was doing it for years before, but she didn't drop it when she started school.  I remember us telling her "Mom just major in Music, thats what you love!" But she did accounting, despite the hours of long hard homework because she knew she could get it done sooner and make a secure income-and she did it for us.  She  has taught me so much just by her constant example and her unwaivering faith.  She doesn't express it very often through words, but I know it because of her life and who she is and by how she responds to the trials she faces.  I would say she's been my rock, but I think she did something even more wonderful for me, she taught me how to turn to Christ as my rock.

To my mom, and all the mothers I know,   Have a Happy Mothers day!   I love you for all that you are and all that you do!

April Showers make me happy

This week was kinda an awesome week-despite its rough start.  On Sunday, my first disaster was at Branch Conference, I'm the choir director and we had planned on singing this awesome arrangement of "How firm a foundation" but 10 mins before the meeting I still don't have my violinist or pianist.  So, the show much go on and we sang a number from the hymn book with Chelsea (life saver) as our Pianist.  That is every choir directors worst nightmare.  Anyways, still recovering from that and a few other personal crisises which also happened during church, I was in Northpole with Travis and I got a phone call from my family that Liam went into the hospital because of breathing problems.  Oy.  So the next few days were busy busy as I played mom and chauffer to Lysie and a friend whom I take to doctor appointments-all the while I also finnished a group project for Sociology and got to all my classes on time.  Tuesday evening, things started calming down.  Liam got to come home, and Travis had a birthday!  <--That was actually all day but I didn't see him till after I was done chauffering and running errands and all that jazz

I must say I was pretty happy with myself, I got travis an icecream cake from Coldstones, his mom made dinner (steak and potatoes, yum!) and I also got him a fun electronic monopoly game and a lightsaber (cuz every jedi needs a lightsaber) and bubbles (Who doesn't love bubbles?).  After dinner we went for a nice walk in the beautiful sunshine and blue skies and 65+ weather, and played 2 hrs of Monopoly and watched an episode of Stargate.  It was a good night.

Wednesday, not much happened, except those creepers at work-see post titled "creepers" if you want that story.

Thursday, after I went to my Chem class and helped my friend get to and from her meetings, I got to go hiking with Lisa Anderson and  Stephanie Dayton-we went to Angel rocks.  We were kinda worried because on the drive we got pelted with rain, but while we were there it was beautiful.  We were all sweating by the top where we enjoyed the veiws and turned around.  By the time we left it was starting to rain again.  After making it back into town, I went out to North Pole to finish the monopoly game with Travis-and he kicked my trash!  He had a total of 69.9 Million at the end and I only had 6 million-the last move I made, I was holding my breath hoping to land on chance and not on his times square property--The most expensive one next that sits right next to go-- he had a hotel on it and the 8 million dollar rent would surely bankrupt me.  So I rolled and sigh of relief landed on chance.  The card read: "Celebrate New Years in The Big Apple, advance to Times Square."  Game over. But, fun way for it to end I guess.

Friday, not much excitement either, but still a good day-went to meetings in the morning, then classes and work was quiet-ish.

Saturday, it was still rainy but it held off while I did the Chena River run with my family.  I made it in 45 minutes, a 5K.  I pushed Liam the whole way while he slept in a stroller. Rulon ran, finnished in 25 minutes, and my Mom and Michelle walked it in 58 minutes with Elyse in a stroller also.  After that, I got some chores done-the world is always jsut a bit better when my room is clean and laundry is done.  Then I got to spend another evening with Travis-we had chicken enchiladas at my house and enjoyed some more stargate at his.  I know it sounds like we're lame watching this show all the time, but I'm in season 6-and almost done, and tomorrow his complete series is supposed to get here-and we're gonna try and have a marathon before we go to Cali. Still, may sound like we're geeks, but I promise we're not.  If you would just give it a chance and watch the show-you'd be just as hooked.  Its hilarious!

Anyways, today was also a productive and relaxing Sunday-Testimony meetings were really good, and its awesome how many new people are showing up for choir!  And I got my temple Reccomend renewed-I plan to go on the Branch Temple trip the 14th/15th-my choir pianist Catherine, and her beloved Jack are getting hitched the same weekend and they asked that I be there for pictures outside the temple since I can't go into their ceremony.  That was special.  I'm so happy for them.  And I'm glad I got to be a part of their coming together-I didn't do much but invite Catherine to come to church in October and be the choir pianist (that one week only-I was begging) but apparently that was all she needed to be called as my pianist and then to become more active and to meet Jack.  Jack always greets me with a Hug and a big "Thanks for finding me my wife" -AGain, I don't think I did much but it means alot to me that I meant that much to them.  Also, about the temple, how exciting that This summer, I'll be just about an hour away from the Oakland Cali temple!  YAY!!!  I've missed the temple so much-Fairbanks really needs one closer to home.  When I was in Rexburg I got to go every week!  I hope I can do that this summer-at least every other week (sing I won't have a car myself....)  And also, today, Travis and I bought our plane tickets to Cali and made some other plans for the summer.  I'm so excited!  We leave in 16 days-which are going to be some of the busiest days of my life, but I'm oh so excited about it!  YAY summer, YAY life!!!