Girl's Camp

In the middle of July, I went up to Girl's Camp with the YW in our ward. I actually didn't go up when the YW went up because three out of four (me being one of those three) of the leaders in the YW's presidency hate Girl's Camp and really didn't want to go, so we decided to go up in the middle of their week there. Plus, we already had three other leaders with the girls, so we felt like three more would be too many leaders for how little YW that went (we had eight girls total- that's record for this ward!). Anyways, so we headed up on Thursday afternoon and stayed about 24 hours total because we are wimps. Seriously though, the YW's President was ready to leave about an hour after we first arrived, but I convinced her that it was in the best interest for the girls (and ourselves) to stick around at least overnight. Anyways, we were out in the middle of the mountains. It was absolutely beautiful, but I am sure glad we only stayed 24 hours because I don't think I could handle much of that. I love camping, but I really don't like all the corny things they do at Girl's Camp.... like the dumb songs and crafts. Plus, there's no electricity up there, and the water was freezing... and I don't think I can go that long without a shower nor my hair washed. I was dying for a shower after the 24 hours we were there.

Here's some photos that I stole from one of our girl's Facebook page:

That's the little lake that's up there surrounded by the beautiful mountains and trees. It's also where we went canoeing and got soaking wet (thanks to our wonderful YW!). At least it was hot out that day...

There we are walking back to the cabins after getting soaked on the canoes. (I'm the one in the hat. Thank goodness I stole Jon's hat!!)

We got to stay in cabins like the one in this picture (that particular one was for another stake). There were a lot of different stakes up there and some of them were pretty loud!

Here's our girls pre-canoeing/the water fight. This was during their challenge course. They had to use those planks to get to every stand without falling off. But it was kind of impossible since some were so far away from each other, the planks weren't long enough!

The beautiful mountains! I would live there, if there was electricity...

and if it didn't get so much snow in the winter...

and if there was a Target nearby.

I think that's all I need to be happy. :)

I sure do love the other ladies I serve with in the YW's presidency. We get along so well and are all different, but we have so much fun together! I'm grateful to be in this calling, and I will be very sad the day I am released and/or move out of this ward.

Crazy Month

The last month has been a bit crazy. I swear every time I go to update this blog, I never have time nor the patience to finish (our internet is crappy and, not to mention, I am on an old computer, which makes everything even slower). I think the way that blogger does photos is annoying, and, therefore, I hate putting pictures into posts....

Anyways, what have we been up to? Well, I went to San Diego towards the beginning of the month for about a week for my baby brother's farewell. He's supposed to be going to Brazil, but he hasn't gotten his visa yet. So they pushed back his MTC report date a week and decided to send him to the Provo one first, while he waited. Turns out that the MTC was only expecting 10 missionaries headed to Brazil, who were still waiting on visas, this last week, but instead they got 76 or something. Crazy. The weather in San Diego/Poway was perfect all week long. 75 and not a single degree higher. I was afraid, though, that the beach would be overcast and cold, but it was THE PERFECT day. Jon lucked out and got a call to a fire while I was gone, so he didn't have to spend the whole weekend by himself. I drove home a day early in my new vehicle (grandma is so nice and gave me her practically brand new car! less than 12,000 miles!) because I was hoping to surprise Jon on our three year anniversary. Take a look at this beaut (not my actual car):

Okay, so it's a Buick... I kind of feel like an old lady in it, but it's a car! And really, it doesn't look quite so nasty like a lot of those older Buicks.

Jon came home the next evening, and we celebrated our anniversary later that weekend at CPK (California Pizza Kitchen)! YUM!

Other news: Jon and I have been thinking of moving into a house that his brother is trying to buy out in Eagle Mountain (his brother is in Iraq right now for a year). I have been very hesitant about it though, and my reasoning for it has fully come true in the past few days (i.e. I didn't want to live there if my BIL's fiancée decided she wanted to move in as well at some point). I was reassured that it was just going to be us, but that his BIL really wanted my SIL and nephew to be able to live there too... which I wasn't too excited about either. But I came up with the idea that Jon and I would live in the basement, and, therefore, would still have a private area to ourselves. Well, yeah, I don't think it's happening anymore, like I said, which I have mixed emotions about. I was excited for a new place, but I really don't want to leave this ward or my YW. So I'm not sure what's going to happen now, but I think Jon might seriously consider purchasing a condo or townhouse, if we can get a loan.

Oh, and for a final note: I hate the Red Cross organization so much. I am never dealing with that place again. Let's just say that I was supposed to be certified in First Aid/CPR last Friday from 1PM to 3PM, and (1) our instructor never showed up, (2) the employees there are rude and don't pay any attention to you, (3) they didn't even do anything about us not having an instructor until 1:40PM, and (4) they charged me an extra $180 for the certification because they have a website that isn't user-friendly nor does it work. Oh, I forgot to add that I also have to go back Wednesday to finish the First Aid/take a test because I had to leave at 3PM on Friday, and we had already started wayyy later than planned.

That's about it. School starts next week. Excited? No.

Battle Creek Falls Hike with YW

Last night we took the YW up to Pleasant Grove to hike to Battle Creek Falls. It was categorized as an easy hike, which I might not agree with other than the fact that it's fairly short. It got pretty steep as you got closer to the water, and that is why I think it's not quite an "easy" hike. We were all hot and sweaty from hiking up there and some of the girls got under the waterfall right away. I told the YW's president that I would get wet if she did (the other two leaders already got wet). So we went out there, and it was FREEZING! I think we waited too long and were already cooled off from the hike, so it would have been better if we got under it immediately when we got there. Plus, it didn't help that another thunderstorm was starting to roll in, and the sun was covered up. I don't have any pictures of me on my camera, but I know there are a few on another leader's camera. I'll see if I can get those soon. It was a fun hike, and I would love to do it again with Jon. I just don't know if he'll be willing to get wet because he's kind of baby when it comes to water (especially freezing mountain water). It would definitely feel really good on a hot summer day though, and we've had a lot of those recently!

The YW's president's husband came with us and took his two kids under the falls. They both cried and were not happy with daddy after that.

Catsup, Ketchup, Catch Up

(The title of this post has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that I'm slowly catching up on our life.)

Jon and I hung out with Brad and Marissa last minute one evening a few weeks ago. We went mini golfing (we love mini golf- we did this the last time we hung out with them!), ate pizza and bread sticks, and watched Heavy Weights. It was good seeing them again since they will be leaving at the end of this month for Nebraska. So sad!




As I've said plenty of times, I babysit my niece twice a week. I love it. I miss her when I don't get to babysit her. I don't know what I'll do when we leave Utah... I also like to take pictures of her because she is just too funny!

That's her "what?!" reaction to me taking a picture of her.

She's so cute, huh?

Jon and I did our usual thing of walking to Provo Center Street/University Avenue for the Fourth of July festivities. You would think that we would stop doing it since it's really not that exciting after the first time. But oh well... it gives us something to do for free (as long as we don't buy anything- like food or merchandise). And since the fourth was on a Sunday this year, in Utah, it is celebrated the day before. So these were actually taken on the third of July.

We saw these old cars and thought Jon's Dad might be interested in seeing them.

See that paper in the window? Look at the next picture to see what it says...

We went searching for the people dressed in the colonial clothing (there were some walking around, and they had an area last year near the Indians- Jon wanted to see if they had a cannon). Unfortunately, they didn't seem to have a spot set up this year. So I guess the people were just walking around? Anyways, this is the Boy Scouts area. Jon wanted to saw the long like the kids were doing. He pretty much has a dream of being a logger now.

The Indian tepee setup near the Boy Scout area.

On the actual Fourth of July, we headed up to my sister's place in Herriman to set off some of our own fireworks and play with sparklers. It was probably the first time I've done that. (Fireworks, sparklers, etc. are all illegal in California. Although, I do vaguely remember being at a neighbor's house, who was playing with some small fireworks... and I have done small sparklers at my parent's house.) Anyways, Ry was too funny about the fireworks. She was so excited and loved every second of it. I have some videos that are pretty dark, but you can hear her excitement and funny comments. I'll put some at the end of this post.

Jon and I went mini golf again (What can I say? We love it!), but this time we went with our other friends, Joseph and Julieta. They will also be leaving at the end of this month to head back to Arkansas. So at least we will be able to see them (and their baby!) during Thanksgiving when we head out there to visit Jon's family (and, of course, the Herb Family).




We also did the batting cages. Jon and I love those too. We just need to find some good ones close by, and I think we might go a lot.


I have more pictures of things from this past weekend that maybe I'll get around to posting this week. But seeing how this whole post took me a week to finish, don't count on it.

Here's the videos (Again, they are dark, and you can't see much. They more so just show my niece's excitement):

Not One More Child Sacrifice

So a few months ago, in my hometown of Poway, CA, a girl went missing. Long story short, a sex offender, who lived down the street from a park she was running at, raped and murdered her. I did not know Chelsea King, but I followed the story pretty closely because it's my hometown, and everyone there worked together to find her and fight for her. Unfortunately, the guilty man entered into a plea deal with law enforcement and would only tell them where her body was (and a body of another girl, who he also raped and murdered one year before) as long as he wasn't given the death penalty. So his conviction ended up being life in prison. This whole story has been very upsetting to me because he was already in prison a few years before for being a sex offender, but he was released early (I don't remember why). Maybe if they kept him in prison for his full sentence, this might not have happened to this girl. But then again, this world is getting worse and worse with each passing day, so who knows what could have happened. I know exactly where she went running; I have been there many times myself, and it always seemed like a nice and safe park. It just scares me to think that this could happen to me or someone I love. I don't understand why there aren't harsher punishments for this kind of thing (he was only sentenced to about 5-6 years for his first offense). I just don't know how ANYONE could ever hurt anyone else in this way, especially a child. I just read a story today about a 16-year-old boy who raped and murdered a 5-year-old girl, who lived in the same house as him (I assume their parents were involved with each other/living together). It makes me sick that someone at the age of 16 could ever think this was okay, and it's sad that someone so young would do something like that. Anyways, I guess I'm just a little scared for the future, especially with the way this country has been going. I'm scared for my friends, family, and my future children. But I'm grateful for the knowledge of the Gospel and for eternal families. I know that whatever happens, there will be justice in the next life.... And as long as I'm doing what's right, I will be happy.

Here's a beautiful song written in Chelsea's memory:

Life Lately Mixed With Some Drama

The last week or so has been kind of crazy. I got called to be the Young Women's 2nd Counselor. Crazy. I was happy because that meant I would only have to teach once every other month instead of twice a month (which is what I had been doing for the last year and a half). I had a lot of things going on last week, like mutual, a presidency meeting, visiting teaching, babysitting my niece, cleaning, etc. Then on Thursday afternoon, I got a text from the YW's president asking if I was willing to give a talk on Sunday, along with the rest of the YW's presidency. That freaked me out. I hadn't given a talk in church since I was in YW's myself!!! And I HATE talking in front of people. The first couple of months teaching in YW's, my body and voice was shaking. Anyways, so I was SUPER stressed out about that. I tried not to think about it Thursday. But then I remembered that I had to clean before Jon's family came in sometime Saturday, go visiting teaching, watch my niece (which is hard to do much of anything else with her around), AND now write a talk. I was freaking out about my talk so badly that I couldn't sleep very well Friday or Saturday night. I had a couple of breakdowns over it too. I kept praying that I would calm down about it, and I finally did! At least until Sunday morning... Anyways, I got my talk over with first, which I was happy about so that I wouldn't start having a breakdown and crying before I even got up there! I'm just grateful that my prayers were answered, and I was able to be a lot more calm about it than I thought I was going to be. I was seriously humbled this weekend with small blessings I received and the wonderful lessons that I got to hear Sunday, and I am really trying to be the best YW's 2nd Counselor that I can be.

Moving on...

As I said, Jon's family came to town Saturday. They were only staying with us that night and then heading to Derek's (Jon's brother) apartment for the rest of the week in Sandy. They were coming out to visit Derek before he is deployed to Iraq at the end of the month for about a year, and I guess to meet Derek's fiancee. So Derek and his fiancee, TJ, planned a family BBQ Sunday evening. We were thinking it was just going to be the immediate members of the family, but aunts and uncles and cousins, etc. were invited from TJ's family. It was definitely overwhelming and WAYYYY too much for me to handle (I was only going off of MAYBE 4 hours of sleep). Anyways, it was crazy and way too long of a day. I did not want to be there that long. Oh well. The next day, Jon's family and I, along with TJ and her daughter, went to Temple Square because his parents have never visited it. The day started later than expected, and we got there much later than we wanted to. We only got to visit the temple visitor's center with the Christus, see the Joseph Smith video, and eat at the Lion House. Well, Jon, his parents, and I went to the JS video, while everyone else went to the mall......... Yeah. Anyways, we were trying to head back to Provo so that Jon, Derek, their Dad, and friend could all go shooting in the Spanish Fork canyon. I took Jon's sister and Mom to Old Navy to do some shopping, while the boys were out shooting. It was definitely an interesting day, and without going into too many details, mixed with some drama.

Here's a few pictures from yesterday:



Hopefully, today will be a much better day....

Things that I've done lately OTHER than this last week:

1. Painted this magnet board (I'll post a picture another time of the finished project) and made magnets to go with it:

2. Made some throw pillows for the couches because I found cute throw pillow covers at Target on clearance:


3. Made the outside of a pillow for my sister/niece. My sister stuffed it with a pillow and sewed up the unfinished hem. Then she hot glued a matching silver cord around the outside edges. She put it on my niece's dresser in her bedroom and put her princess shoes on top of it.

4. Tried to finish the shirt I wanted to do forever ago, but it just doesn't work right... So I'm probably going to take it off and do something different (it pulls down the shirt where it's attached):
5. I made a water bottle sling for when I go hiking. There's a few things I messed up on, but it works fine, so I'm okay with that! I'll post more about it another time:6. Jon and I went to the Herriman rodeo with my sister's family. More on this and why this pictures is the only picture I got, and it ended up being blurry (UGH. So annoyed.):

Best Idea EVER!

So I have decided that Jon and I need to go on a road trip.... a fun road trip with AMAZING views. Because, let's be honest, driving from Utah to Arkansas is probably one of the ugliest drives around (right after the drive from Barstow, CA to Arkansas). So where do I want to drive?

PCH

Otherwise known as Pacific Coast Highway. It is one of my favorite drives (I've only taken it as far north as Huntington Beach), and I would love to take it from northern California (like way northern) all the way down to Orange County. I love the views of all the beaches and the ocean. Plus, you get to drive through really cute beach towns, where everyone is walking around ready to go to the beach.

Of course, this probably won't be happening until Jon finishes school, but I think that I can convince him to make this his graduation trip. :)

P.S.

Make this. You will not regret it. It's the most amazing chicken I have had in my life. Seriously.