Palmyra, New York

I didn't have to work on Monday so I decided to take a trip up to Palmyra, New York to see the church sites.  What an amazing day trip.  It took me a while to get up there because it was raining and my GPS took me through all sorts of tiny, random towns.  I finally arrived at noon and it was still raining at that point.  I drove past the Hill Cumorah, the Palmyra Temple, and started at the Joseph Smith Farm.  I was greeted by a lovely missionary, Sister Trang.  She showed me around the log cabin where the Smith Family originally lived and where the Angel Moroni visited Joseph Smith and told him where to go at the Hill Cumorah to find the gold plates.  It was really cool to be in the room where it happened.  Then we walked down to the frame house and we realized that we were EFY counselors together at SLC week 2 last year.  Crazy small world.  She then showed me the frame house and we continued to discuss EFY.  Then she allowed me to walk into the Sacred Grove by myself.  Since I had my phone with me, I decided to play the Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD dedicated to the prophet Joseph Smith softly.  I started off with Joseph Smith's First Prayer, the On A Golden Springtime, and then This Is My Beloved Son.  As I walked it was still raining a little, but not down pouring.  It was a peaceful rain and the rain drops looked absolutely beautiful on the leaves and trees.  I could feel the Spirit so strongly as I wandered.  I could imagine Joseph Smith praying and pictures Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appearing.  I stopped to pray for a moment.  Then I began to make my way back out, listening to Joseph, A Nashville Tribute songs The Prayer and The Rising.  I stopped halfway through to the end and decided to read Joseph Smith History.  It was so beautiful.  I realized as I read about the visit from the Angel Moroni, that it had occurred 190 years ago, to the week, almost to the day, I was there.  It was a tender mercy.  Seeing these sites was an amazing experience, especially as I had had an opportunity to study Joseph Smith and the process to bring forth the Book of Mormon all summer at EFY.

I then decided to stop by the Palmyra Temple and the Grandin Bookstore. The Palmyra Temple is small but beautiful with stain glass windows of the sacred grove and a view of the sacred grove.  I also was able to attend the temple dedication of this temple so it was really cool to see it in person. On the way to the bookstore I saw the four churches on the corner that caused Joseph so much confusion.  The bookstore was really cool as well.  It was cool to see how much work went into the printing of the Book of Mormon.  The Sister Missionary who took me on the tour there happened to have dated the son of one of my favorite Child Life Professors at Utah.  Again it was a super small world.  After I went to the Hill Cumorah which was also a really cool experience.

Guys, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is so so true.  It's amazing.  And I love it.

Gettysburg

On Saturday I didn't have to work, so I though I would go explore Gettysburg.  I had never been before so I was really excited to go.  The drive there was absolutely beautiful, following the river with beautiful forest covered mountains to the side of the road.  Loved it.  I decided that it was worth the $12.50 to see a movie, a cyclorama (painting around a room), and the museum and it was definitely worth it.  Before going to see anything I decided to read D&C 87 the prophecy about the Civil War.  It was amazing because Morgan Freeman (the narrator or the movie) was practically reading that prophecy word for word for the movie.  The painting was absolutely beautiful and so life like.  I was in the museum for a few hours, watching many of the movies and taking my time reading and observing the different artifacts.  I wanted to take my time and really soak in all of the information and feelings associated with this great war.  

After lunch I decided to walk out to the actual battle sites.  Again I took my time, really trying to soak up the moment.  I walked by monument after monument after monument.  It was amazing to see how this place that's kind of in the middle of nowhere and not much to look at, is such sacred life because of how many people lost their lives.  The museum had often talked about how Gettysburg was the turn of the Civil War and how the Confederates should have won the battle, they had way more men than the Union.  But because the Union held the high ground they were able to win.  The Union held the literal high ground over those three days, but also the figurative high ground through out the war.  And if we as people continue to hold the high ground in the war against Satan, we will win as well.

I then wandered over to the cemetery, where Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg address.  I absolutely love cemeteries and this cemetery did not disappoint.  Again I slowly, quietly, and reverently wandered, observing the many headstones.  Many were not from the actual Civil War.  Many of them that were from the Civil War had Unknown written on them.  It was really cool to see the different monuments to Lincoln as well in the cemetery.  It was a peaceful place, so different from the war that made it famous.  I left that day feeling like I had just gone on a very cool spiritual journey coming to understand the men who fought for my freedom a little bit better.  I love Gettysburg.

Dear Internet

For the first time in the past three weeks I have consistent access to the internet.  Hooray! Because of this lack of internet access I have not kept my blog caught up. Mentally I have written about a million and one blog posts.  So dear little blog, let me catch you up.

I now live in a different state and a different time zone and a different world than the last time I wrote.  The state is Pennsylvania, the time zone Eastern, and the world Beautiful. After this move and my past month in Virginia and my little trips back east over my lifetime, I'm convinced that there is an east coast girl that has been waiting to come out. And here she is!

I will post a few pictures on this post and I will post more later.  Right now I should be working on homework that is due tomorrow. :)

This is me and my street!

Dad and I stopped at Winter Quarters on the way out here.

Winter Quarters Temple

Danville Courthouse

More pictures and posts to come soon!

New Experiences

"A person who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." - Albert Einstein

Life is filled with new experiences. That's what life is all about.  Life is a series of experiences, occurring day after day.

"With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts." -  Eleanor Roosevelt

These past few weeks I've had a series of new experiences happen in my life.  Some of those experiences have been stressful and overwhelming.

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream." - C. S. Lewis

Some of those experiences have been sweet, happy experiences.  I guess it's because good always comes with bad and vice versa.  That's sort of what Lehi said, right?

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney

One of the new experiences is sending Mason off on his mission.  I miss him, but I am seeing the blessings that are coming from having a missionary in the family.

"Do one thing everyday that scares you." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Another new experience for me lately has been learning to accept help from family when I need it.  

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

I feel like I can officially be pronounced an adult.  I have done Jury duty.  That experience won't have to be repeated for at least two years.

"Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing." - Oscar Wilde

Sometimes new experiences are experiences that you have hoped and prayed for all of your life and have always seemed just out of reach.  Then out of no where you get to have the experience for yourself.

"Nothing ever becomes real till it's experienced." - John Keates

There are experiences that you never thought you'd experience, never wanted to experience, and that you wouldn't ever want to experience again. 

“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt 

New experiences are terrifying because you never know what they will be like until you have actually experienced them.

“A new experience can be extremely pleasurable, or extremely irritating, or somewhere in between, and you never know until you try it out.” ― Lemony Snicket, The Blank Book

 Experiences are more valuable then things.  Always.

"Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good." - Doctrine and Covenants 122:7

Called To Serve

This weekend I went home for my little brother's LDS mission farewell ("little" doesn't describe him very well anymore, he's taller than I am now, younger would be a more accurate description, but I've been calling him my little brother forever).  It was a great weekend, definitely worth braving the fog and the snow to make it back home for Mason.  I was so glad so many of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were able to make the five hour drive down especially with the weather.  It was great to be able to share this awesome occasion with them.  It was great to be able to hang Mason one last time before his mission to Ecuador.  And I was glad I was able to help my parents out a little bit with getting ready for brunch after Mason's talk.

The actual farewell was great.  The opening hymn was "Hark All Ye Nations" which immediately brought me back to EFY.  It was one of the songs that was part of musical program which I got to be apart of for two out of my six weeks.  It was one of my favorite songs in the program, although I really wasn't too familiar with it before that summer.  EFY last summer was all about missionary work, which was perfect for these kids who would soon hear about the new age requirements for missionary work.  Mason's talk was great, even though the night before I had distracted him from working on it by joking about movie quotes that he should put in the talk.  Movie quotes and jokes are how we bond.  It was my last chance to hang out with him.  After Mason finished bearing his testimony in Spanish he, my dad, the young men in our ward, and young men leaders sang "Called To Serve" another song dear to my heart because of EFY.  "Called To Serve" and "I Am A Child Of God" are the new EFY medly.  After Brother Duffin and Bishop Ence spoke and then we sang "God Be With You Till We Meet Again".  That song killed me.  I didn't even make it through the first verse before I started bawling.  My mom and dad saw me crying, so they started crying.  Both my grandmothers cried as well.  But I definitely cried the hardest.  I left as soon as the closing prayer was said, hoping to gain my composure while getting ready for the brunch.  In my hurry I lost my shoe, dumped my purse onto my foot and the accelerator while driving home, and got mud from the car all over my leg.  I was a mess.

We got home and I got through the brunch ok until I knew it was time I needed to go so I could beat the snow storm.  Then even the thought of saying good bye got me teary eyed.  I was sad I had to leave so soon, that I'm not coming back home sooner, that I won't be there to see Mason off to the airport.  I was sad that I had to drive five hours away.  I didn't want to say good bye.  I felt bad that everyone was around when I said bye.  I couldn't stop crying.  My family was great, loving, and supportive, sharing their own experiences of saying good bye to brothers, reminding me why it was good for Mason to be going on a mission and I appreciated their love, advice, and caring.  I wasn't crying because I didn't think Mason should go on a mission.  I was crying because I was going to miss him and I wanted more time with him.  We're finally friends.(It's days like today that make me regret what a brat I was during the first eighteen years of my life, especially towards Mason.)  I don't want him to leave me but I do think he should go.  He's not even really leaving for another couple weeks and I've been missing him since the beginning of January.  It just all came to a head today.  And I couldn't stop crying.  We hugged like three times.  We made my aunts cry.  Mason's friends kind of laughed at my crying.  I told them to shut up.   Mason and I said good bye and I drove away.

And I cried all the way until we (my grandmother and I) reached Cedar City.

And then I cried intermittently until we reached Fillmore.

Grandma just kept handing me tissues.

And then I cried while writing this blog post. (Writing this blog post while listening to "Cat's In The Cradle" by Harry Chapin, "You'll Be In My Heart" by Phil Collins, "Don't Forget To Remember Me" by Carrie Underwood, and "Daniel" by Elton John didn't help with the crying.)

And I'll probably cry all the way through February too.

I keep thinking of the quote from the movie The Other Side Of Heaven where the dad says "I don't know anyone in Tonga well enough to love them, and send them my son, but I guess God does."  That basically sums up how I feel right now, I don't know anyone in Ecuador well enough to love them and send them my brother but I guess God does.

Mason's going to be a great missionary.  He's naturally friendly and social (much more friendly and social than I ever have been.)  He's smart, a hard worker, and he has a great testimony of the gospel.  And I'm sure he'll keep his companions and investigators laughing.  Mason is very caring and loving as well.  I'm happy and excited for him and the people of Ecuador. I'm just sad for me. Because I'm going to miss my friend.

Arise and Shine

Wow!!  I have learned and grown so much the past few weeks doing EFY. I have made many new friends and I've learned lots of parenting skills.  I have also learned to trust in the Lord and He has given me strength beyond my own to do the things that I need to do for my children at EFY. It's so awesome to see the change that happens in just a week with these kids as they learn to apply the gosple to their lives.  This whole experience has really strengthened my testimony too.  My girls strength amazes me, they all have so many hard things going on in their lives.

Not too mention that I feel so much more hip now.  I'm all up on what's cool with 14 - 15 and the 16 - 18 crowd.  I've learned a lot about the Bieb's and One Direction, COWs (crush of the week), and that apparently the music I grew up with in elementary school is cool again, especially Backstreet Boys and N'Sync!  It's pretty much awesome!!

These past few weeks have been some of the hardest weeks of my life.  I've gone to bed every night absolutely exhausted and woken up still exhausted.  But it's the best feeling ever.  I've felt tired for all sorts of reasons but the best tired is tired out from doing the work of the Lord with all your heart, might, mind, and strength.  Because of that these weeks have also been some of the best weeks of my life.  I have seen miracles.  And I can't wait for more EFY weeks.

Basically the moral of the story is that I have the best job ever in the history of best job's ever!!!

'Nuff said.  

Enjoy the pictures.  :)

Cute note from an unknown boy to all the girls at EFY.

The Celestial One's

My Celestial Girls

Amore Girls

My Co-Co Fonzie

My Co-Co Kelsey and I

Me and Fonzie

Josh and Kelsey

Amore!!

Quick Post

It's been a long time since I've blogged, and my life's been pretty crazy.  Here's a quick recap of the past month or so.

• EFY prep has been really cool.  I've learned a lot.  I'm a little overwhelmed at the thought of being a counselor, especially because I've never really done anything like it before.  It's another one of the many "first's" I've experienced this past year.
• I've got a new job.  I will no longer be calling U of U alumni asking them to donate money to the U.  Instead I will be working with special needs people helping them to get jobs or to work effectively in the job they already have.  I'm excited and nervous for this opportunity as well.  It's going to be another learning experience because I also have never done anything like this before.
• I've started volunteering with a hospice.  The little lady I help is so adorable and funny.  The hour that I spend with her on Sunday's is probably the highlight of my whole week, every week.
• I got a scholarship!  (woot woot!)  Yay for free money for school.
• I got to visit my family over spring break.  :)
• Community is back on NBC!!  :)
• Other than that my life has just been lots of school, homework, visiting teaching, volunteering at Primary's, vampire's stealing my blood (blood draws), roommate drama, and more homework.

(Yet another post I wrote a really long time ago and never posted.)

There are some moments that stick with you.  There are moments when you wish you had chosen differently.

A couple of weeks ago I decided to go to the temple.  As I crossed the street from the Conference Center over to Temple Square a woman caught my eye.  She looked like your regular old homeless beggar that you might see any given day around Temple Square.  I knew the social routine - look away, pretend you don't see her, keep walking, ignore her, and if she tries to ask you for money politely say no without stopping. And I did.  I walked right on by her without stopping.  She did ask me for money and I shyly said no.

I instantly felt guilty, but I tried to put the instance out of my mind.  I thought to myself  "I'm a poor college student, it's not like I have money to give away anyway."  And then I thought "She'd probably just end up using it on drugs and alcohol anyway."  And I thought "She might have tried to steal your wallet when you brought it out or something."

But I couldn't shake the feeling of guilt.  I asked myself "Really?  You couldn't have spared a few dimes? Nickles? Pennies?  You had loose change in your pocket.  It may not have helped much but it could have helped her some."  And I considered the place I was going.  I was going to the temple to worship my Savior.  Did He turn away help for the poor and the homeless?  I considered what He would've done and compared it to what I had done.  I wondered if it was really my place to judge what she would spend the money on.  And why would I just assume the worst in this woman?  I also wondered at what had made her choose her location to beg.  Did she believe that Latter-Day Saints are Christ like people who would have compassion for the poor?  Had she been proven wrong over and over again that day and seen Latter-Day Saints as only judgmental hypocrites who don't practice what they preach?

This has bothered me for a while now. And I'm really not sure what to do.

Cooking Adventures

Today I decided to experiment with zucchini.  I've had some for about a week but I didn't really know what to do with it and it was about to go bad. As my mother will attest, I love to cook.  And as my roommates will attest I don't always follow (or have) a recipe.  Today for lunch I cut up some zucchini and some fresh tomatoes and sauteed them in canola oil for a little while.  I added some garlic salt, onion, italian seasoning, oregano, and parsley. I felt like they needed something so I searched my cabinet and found soy sauce and sesame seed oil and added them to the mixture.  I let them boil and then simmer while I cooked up some brown rice.  I was really surprised how good it was, it was super yummy.

I used the rest of the zucchini backing them like chips in the oven.  I used garlic salt, onion, italian seasoning, and parsley on them as well and then just let them bake.  I put some cheese on one batch, just to shake things up and because everybody knows everything tastes better with cheese.

Now off to the fun that is studying, laundry, and cleaning.  :)

First's, Thank You's, and Other Randomness

I've had some firsts this week.

First time going to the gym all by myself at night in the big city.

First time going running. (A result of being scared to death by the above first. Those of you who know me know that I do NOT run.  Ever.  I think my mom thought I'd gone crazy or was sick or got replaced by someone else because her daughter doesn't run.)

First time going bike riding. (In a LONG time).

First time getting on the wrong shuttle. (No worries though, I had plenty of time and eventually got where I was going.)

First homework assignment at the U.

First time class has been cancelled for a football game. (And to answer the question you must be asking, no I didn't go.)

First job interview. (In a long time.)

First time writing a resume. (In a long time.)

First time going up to my grandparent's land and camping. (In a long time.)

First time helping/watching my uncle and cousin figure out how to turn around a horse trailer.

First time waiting until after dark to help pick up my other uncle and cousin from their horseback riding expedition.

First time going up to "the land" without my allergies driving me crazy.  (Thank you knock-off Walgreens Claritin.)

First time going to a church that was so full that I got pushed into the corner of the Relief Society room for sacrament meeting, heard my uncles phone go off to the Steve Miller Band, and watched kids guess what a lady was drawing on the white board and then vigorously erase the drawing.

First time driving rush hour traffic on a Friday evening past a car accident.

First time getting locked out of my apartment.

First quizzes of the new semester.

Not everything this week was a first.  I got to hang out with Grandma H. just the two of us which we've been able to do more often lately.  I really like hanging out just the two of us.  Thanks for inviting me up for the weekend Grandma! And feeding me good food that I didn't have to cook myself.  You're awesome!

I also need to shout out a big Thank You to Aunt Judy for inviting me over to Sunday dinner a couple of weeks ago and again sending me home with lots of yummy, healthy food.  This isn't the first time you've been so kind to me and I'm sure it won't be the last.

I've gotten so many invites for dinner and to help out if I need anything that I know I'm going to be set for a long time.  I feel so loved and I can't wait to hang out with all of my family on such a personal basis.  I feel so blessed.  I know I've got so many people looking out for me.  I think that's probably the only reason my Mom hasn't gone crazy is because she know's I've got such a great support system with my wonderful family who are there in case I need anything.  It's comforting for me too.

Just in case this post wasn't long enough for you, I thought I'd add in a link to Kid History - Episode 6.  I love Kid History and this episode featured some smoothies that reminded me of one of my cousins classic "Green Smoothies" which I love but the kids reactions to them are so funny.

Song for the long weekend:
"Take a Back Road" - Rodney Atkins