A day in Mormon History

I could feel the excitement in the room and I know it didn't have anything to do with Kyle and my sisters running 3 blocks to make it to the conference center on time! (Stinking downtown parking!)
"Can you believe we going to be in the same room as the prophet" I whispered to Amy and Laura as 25,000 people simultaneously stood up to show their respect for a prophet of God.

As General Conference began, I could sense something big was about to happen, and then President Monson announced the missionary age change.  Every person in the conference center gasped!  This means all sorts of changes!  Kyle will have to help prepare our sons sooner, more sisters will hopefully go.  What a great blessing and experience for all involved.

On the way home, we talked about all the things we learned as well as those who are such great examples to us.

Laura is talking about going on a mission.  I'm sure it has something to do with my beautiful sister-in-law Megan and her amazing example.

I'm grateful for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and all that it teaches us.

I'm also happy to get to go shopping with my sweet Oma, and some of my favorite ladies in the world.  Can you say blessed?

Fwied Wice!

Ky and I aren't the best at dating, we spend a ton of time together but we need more us time!
So I called him and told him to come home from work early.  I was so excited I couldn't help myself, I ran out and met him in the driveway.

We had a heart to heart talk.
Chose an activity out of a jar.
Went on a fun Sampan date.
Laughed our heads off as we tried to eat with just chopsticks!
Worked on a home repair project together.
And loved every minute of being together with eachother and no schedule.

Be a little kinder

I guess you just never know what people are going through.
You never know what pain they may be experiencing, what things in their past are haunting them and what the future may hold.

For my birthday Kyle and I went all over town.  We found ourselves at a mall downtown called the Gateway.  As we were coming down the steps, we saw a family.  The dad was playing with his young son, a baby was in the stroller and the mom, who looked worse for wear, was holding a cardboard sign.  I smiled at the family and then whispered to Kyle, something mean like, "Couldn't one of them get a job?"
I guess my conscious kicked in because not one second later I felt horrible.  There is a song we sing in our church that says "Who am I to judge another, when I walk imperfectly?  In the quiet heart is hidden sorrow that the eye can't see."
What do I know about this woman and her situation?  They could be homeless because they couldn't afford cancer treatments for their son, they could have been swindled at the hand of another or a million other scenarios.  Was my being unkind helping anyone?  Or was it just bringing me down...

The next beggar wasn't even half a block down the road, but I was determined to act different. This gentleman was holding a similar sign, but behind it he held a book.  We have something in common!  As we strolled by I stopped and talked to the man.  I asked him what he was reading and what the book was about.  He was so kind and respectful to me, he told me it was a Murder Mystery, those are his favorite. He brought a smile to my face and a spring to my step, what a great gift.

How sad it was that I missed out on the opportunity to show compassion to the woman and her family, to see her as her true self, a daughter of God that was down on her luck--whatever the reasons may be.  The next time we walked by the woman, I smiled, a genuine smile, not a sneaky one, I wish I would have had the courage to talk to her.

How we all long for love and acceptance from our brothers and sisters and don't we all deserve it? Everyone is a person, a child of God.  They have hopes, dreams, wishes, joys and sadness, trials and victories.  Sounds like they are just like me.

Being kind and less quick to pass judgement shouldn't be hard.  Sometimes it is for me, but that isn't the type of person I want to be, so my goal to be a little kinder, a little more loving and a little more giving.

Happy 5 years to us!

Wow... Has it really been almost a month since I last blogged?!
I guess that tells you a little bit about our lives!

Things of note:
We celebrated our 5 year anniversary!  I can't tell you how much I love my Kyle, I am the luckiest girl in the world to call him my husband, even if I did have to take him to the Urgent care center on our anniversary because he had a bug bite.  Turns out the bug bite could have been serious, he developed cellulitus from it!  Ah!

We visited Peach Days in Brigham City for the first time ever and went through the Brigham City Temple Open House.  I loved feeling the strong Spirit there.

I switched theatres (well sort of)  I will soon be moving to the Valley Fair location.

Kyle is now a published man!  One of the research papers he has been working on is now in a medical journal.

Wish I had time to tell you more, look forward to next months re-cap!

Scout Camp made me more grateful for my Guy!

Scout Camp.
Doesn't that just sound like an accident waiting to happen?
My sweet husband was gone for a whole week, attending a High Adventure Camp with our ward
( Another topic: Why do the boys get to go horseback riding, rock climbing, kayaking etc. and the girls get to sing and dance?)

He made it back alive, with all of his limbs attached and just a few minor injuries.
When he was packing he asked where he could find some bug spray, I quickly said "You don't need any bug spray, take some bounce sheets and you'll be fine".  I guess this is what fine looks like:

He looks like he is a pregnant woman with ankles that swollen!  Oops...



side note but relevant later:
On Wednesday I had the opportunity to head up to one of my co-workers/friends girls camps.
I saw a real live moose for the first time.
I was blessed to be reminded that Heavenly Father loves me and that he is mindful of me as I spoke to the girls about the plan on salvation and how we can find happiness now.
On the ride up I got to talk to my friend about her life, her struggles and successes.  She told me about her first marriage and how/why it didn't work.  Hearing her story made my heart long for my sweetheart, partner in crime and soul mate. I love my Kyle.

Saturday morning couldn't come fast enough, I am not a complete woman without my main man!
I cried when he called me and I wasn't home to see him (had to work for a few hours).  We kissed and hugged and have spent the entire weekend with each other and loved every second.

But Monday has to roll around again..
Hope to spend more time with my love and to let him know how much he means to me.

Da..na...na..na...na..na..Batman

This weekend was full of fun and sadness.
The Dark Knight Rises was supposed to be a huge hit, and it was, until a crazy man decided to shoot up a theater! How sad.

But on to happier things...
Kyle and Dan went to the day long Batman Marathon!
I put on a handful of events and met these crazies:

and I got a cool fake tattoo








Saturday was a day of adventure.  Ky and I set out on a drive to a family party at the lake.  I got us lost.
We ended up in this beautiful place 
and after a lot of back tracking, found our way to the party.  But because of the weather the family was packing up.
So we drove home and saw this.

Youth Conference--Filmore, UT

Kyle is in the Young Men, I'm in the Young Women and we LOVE it!
We went to Youth Conference about 2 weeks ago and had a blast.
Never have I sweat more in my life, but we had a blast!

Our ward went to the Building Zion's Youth Camp in Filmore, Utah.  It was the first territorial capital. Then they realized there was nothing but desert out there, and diverting the Sever river sounded like way too much work, so they moved the capitol to SLC.

We have the best youth in our ward (including my little sisters)!
We cut wood, built log cabins, made bread and learned about the past.  One of my favorite parts was the Pioneer dance!  Kyle even stepped out and dosey-doed with me!

But my favorite part was the testimony meeting.
I laughed out loud when one of the teachers said "I never knew Kyle was so much fun" And I cried when my sister Laura said she wished the twins were there and that she knows the church is true.  It was really special to hear Kyle's testimony. I want to bottle up those feelings but I can't.  I guess I will just have to keep living and doing the best that I can.

I am so grateful for our pioneer ancestors that sacrificed so much to build Zion, do you think we can help keep the dream alive?

Crusin with the Amish... and our Homies

Kyle and I had the best time on our Cruise!  We went with some great friends and even met some darling Amish ladies!

My goal for the week was to win a ship on a stick, a thingy on a dingy a golden trophy of honor!
Sad to say that my 70's dancing skills just got me a medallion (but at least I looked cool doing it!)

Here is a re-cap of our journey and of my moment of golden glory!

Sleepin in the Airport

Saturday Night:
We did something crazy.
We took a red eye, with a loooonnnnnggg layover.  Not the best for poor Kyle.
He did bring his ear plugs.
But all of us were t.i.r.e.d when we finally got to Tampa.
On our layover Tiki and I went shopping for a camera charger. Who brings 2 cameras with no juice or charger? Me, that's who.
Obviously we found one, that's why we have all of these beautiful pictures.


Sunday Morning (day 1): 

Or more like afternoon, we made it into the beautiful Tampa, Florida.  Tiki was our tour guide and set us up with a Taxi Van.  Turns out the driver was Russian and our buddy Ryan went on his mission to Russia.  They had a great conversation.  We even got to experience some Russian pop music on the ride down there.  Before you knew it we were on the ship!  What a beauty it was.  We ate lunch at the buffets and I couldn't wait to try everything.  Kyle found a sandwich shop that he fell in love with. I think he tried just about everything that they offered!

While waiting for our luggage to arrive, we attempted to get our first golden ship. Ryan and I were the only ones brave enough to show off our disco dancing moves.

I think I should have gotten extra points for my awesome performing faces.




Attempt # 2 at a Ship on a Stick, I played a Trivia Game.  As you can see the scores were really close.  The dude to my right took my answers.  What dude knows Shania Twain?  Really? and the Spice Girls?! Wow... sorry to say I again just got a medal.

After all that hard work, we went to the dining room, where Kyle and Ryan got their nicknames of the MILK MEN!  The waiters were surprised when they both drank 5 glasses each.

Somewhere along the way we met a pirate???

 Monday night was LADIES NIGHT in Da CLUB!  We capitalized    on our friendship with the British Ladies Man, Peter and got ourselves some ginger-ale, with cherries mind you, free of charge!

The ladies did some dancing on the awesome light up floor!  LOVE IT!

Monday (day 2) At Sea:
The only thing I wanted to do on that first day, was read my book, hang out with my girls and get some sun! I also tried out my new pink sun hat that I totally over-wore.   The boys played some basketball and mini golf and ate so many sandwiches I can't even count!

Isn't Kyle a HOTTIE?! Ry looks great in PINK

While the other girls were catching some Zzz's I decided to be the dutiful wife that I am, and go take some pictures of the boys at the Sports Trivia.  Note: They didn't win a thingy on a dingy  but they did great!

It was our first formal night and we had a great time dressing up.  Beautiful girls and handsome men!

COZUMEL, MEXICO- Day 3-:
What is better than a private beach that we have basically to ourselves?
Nothing.

We did a little exploring and found a ton of shells and some old homes.
The snorkeling here was fun but the fish were a little aggressive.  Kyle had to tell me to quit screaming!  But those darn ugly fish were swarming me right when I got in!!


Ky and Ryan found a quick sand hole. It never stopped!

 Here is our darling driver Mario? I'll have to ask kyle his name.
That night we had a yummy dinner did a little dancing and played us some TABOO.  The boys just kept winning! (Josh is too smart!)  And we won more medals for trivia.








Belize (day 4):
The week just kept getting better.  Next stop Belize, Belize.
We tendered in from the ship and made some friends!  Megan and Nic were on their honeymoon and decided to join us for the day.  We also made friends with one of the workers who hooked us up with Uncle Izzy who became our tour guide and driver.
It was so neat to hear his thoughts about his country.  He was proud of Belize and we were amazed with it's beauty and humble people.

We drove out into the country were we were able to go CAVE TUBING.  There is no better way to explore than floating down a river on a tube.

 Rudy, our tour guide told us some pretty cool stories and showed us some beautiful formations in the Crystal Caves.

 That evening, the local entertainment, aka me, danced with the waiters. When will I learn not to do what my friends tell me?!

Out under the night sky and the stars there was a dance party and everyone who knows us knows I wouldn't miss it for the world and kyle would do anything possible to get out of it!  We learned some fun new dances and rocked out to some great music!