Can they get any cuter?

This post is dedicated to a fear that I have...

I feel like my nieces and nephews are all so adorable.  They really are.  I'm not just saying that because I love them... 

They are genuinely the cutest kids I have ever met.

My fear... is that I will have ugly kids and they will feel bad around all their cousins.

Is that weird?

 

Change of Paradigm

We all have those times where we just feel like no one has it worse than us.

Where you don't feel like being productive... that you are entitled to eat a gallon of Burnt Almond Fudge Ice Cream all by yourself.  And not save any for anyone else.

Where you don't want to see anybody.

And if somebody cuts you off when your driving, they are definitely getting the bird.

It's frustrating to get married and then BAM your husband is gone for like 12 weeks...

But the Lord has a funny way of teaching us that we really don't have it that bad at all.

Since I've been in Utah I have had the chance to do home health care every weekend for a lady named Lois that lives down the street from my parents old home in Riverdale.  She is the sweetest little old lady... but she is very, very sick.  She can't talk and has to have her food fed to her.. and she has to have 24 hour supervision.  She has been sick and confined to her home for a very long time.

Since I was taking care of Lois on a Sunday, I decided to read her a conference talk from this last conference... I had missed the conference since we were moving, and I have been trying to get through all the talks anyway.

I grabbed my Ensign and started where I left off...

The talk I read her was called "More Than Conquerors through Him That Loved Us"

Before I was even halfway through the talk I was amazed at my attitude and how much it needed some work... 

I am glad that the Lord taught me in that instant what is really important in life.  And to cowboy up a little bit, because there are SO MANY people who have it much worse than we do.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us."

-Romans 8:35-37

Utah Break... Part Dos

Here I am... Back in Utah again!

Mike left on Father's day for his second Laos mission. Our one week together in Hawaii passed all too fast! Mike had to work later because he was in charge of teaching a small group about some of the equipment... That stunk because we really didn't have much time together as it was! But we made the most of it thats for sure! We started the Harry Potter series... LOVE! And we went to the swap meet as well. I'm going to start selling jewelry there every Saturday... So we were scouting out the competition! I am really excited to pursue this and hopefully it really takes off! I'm confident it will. I am so thankful to have a husband who supports me in pursuing my dreams and education! More details to come on my future business as I figure it out myself. :D

Coming back to Utah has been quite the journey. I somehow managed to put out of socket (in my sleep mind you) my sacroiliac joint. This is the joint where your pelvis and lower lumbar connect. Um... OUCH. I awoke in the middle of the night in the most terrible pain and confident I had kidney stones. I went to the doctors today and I was surprised with my diagnosis. Getting that bad boy popped back in place ... Well ... It hurt. And I might have cursed. Like a sailor. BUT the worst is over now and I'm glad it's on the mend!

I am so glad for this time with my family... They mean the most to me! I miss my husband to pieces... THANKFULLY it's only five weeks this time!

Here's to a fun filled vacay here and a safe journey in Laos to my smoking hot husband! :P

"The world is like a book... and those who do not travel read only a page."

... Provo ...

... Moab ...

... Monticello ...

... Green River ....

With that list of cities at the beginning of this blog, one would think that my weekend was not as epic as it actually was.  But let me tell you what... it was.  If you don't believe me, hereafter lies the evidence. :D

My best friend Emilie and I decided to road trip it up this weekend... the problem is that we are both poor, and so we had to figure out a cheap vacation plan.  Since I am only in Utah for a short time, I really wanted to see friends and catch up with people as well.

Our adventures actually started in South Salt Lake.. We decided to stop at a little Chinese restaurant (I don't remember what it's called... Let's just say "Glorified Panda Express" is it's name).  It was decent cuisine, but the BEST part was our fortune cookies...

Let's be honest... No one has ever seen fortune cookies that funny, right? 

After almost dying of hysterical laughter, we continued our journey down to Provo! 

We fully intended on going to a concert, but we were just too late.  It's hard to find the Provo exit when you are distracted by things like changing the radio station... BUT it's okay, because as we wandered the streets of Provo, we found this sign.  Whew, good thing we went on this roadtrip - we didn't know where we could find this...

After we found forgiveness (available only in Utah.. :D) we got to meet up with Lynette, Noah and his cute fiance Kaitie, and had some yummy ice cream with them.

Noah and Kaitie had just come from taking pictures and were kind enough to let us barge in on their evening.  It was so fun to catch up. 

We stayed the night at Lynette's apartment, which consisted of toe painting, a little bit of facebook stalking, past journal reading and LOTS of laughing.  Let me tell you... we met Lynette at choir camp in NINTH GRADE.  That's right.  Choir camp.  Be jealous.

There we are.. the tres amigos.. Right when we woke up!

After we left Lynettes, we decided we should probably have a healthy breakfast.

AMPLE! :D

About twenty minutes before we hit Moab, we saw a sign that said "Historical Landmark," so I swerved off the road because I'm kind of a geek and wanted to see what it was...

Turns out, it was the site of a Concentration Camp from WWII where they kept Japanese people.  It was called Dalton Wells.  There wasn't much left of it there today, but it's crazy to think that less than 100 years ago, our nation unfairly locked the Japanese up in these camps... kind of an untold history, because it's definitely not something to be proud of.  And I didn't know that any of the camps were in Utah either!

1943

Today

Once we hit the road again, it was only a few minutes til we reached our destination..

Arches National Park!

Ah yeah girl!

The hike itself wasn't too bad.  There is an area in the middle of the hike where you are climbing up slick rock at an incline for about a half a mile, at which point I sort of wanted to die, but that's the part that makes it so rewarding when make it!

It was a beautiful day... a blazin' 95 degrees.. Definitely left Em-dawg with a nice lobster-y skin tone. :) We're going to be optimistic and say that's going to fade into a beautiful copper toned sexy tan for the summer!

The completion of this AWESOME hike brings us to Monticello, Utah.  One of Emilie's cute roommates from Snow got married while we were traversing the trail, and we went to see her at her reception!

Emilie and the beautiful Liz!  Boys, you should be sad that this one's off the market, she's such an awesome girl! It was fun to see her reception and catch up with her for a few minutes!

Liz's family graciously offered to let us stay at their house that night, but we didn't want to impose - too many visitors that needed rooms there!  We decided we would shorten our drive home the next day by heading back north a ways to find someplace to stay.

After we were rejected by every single hotel in Moab, we landed in Green River, Utah.

It wasn't too bad, except there were no restaurants open at that late hour because the town was so small, so this is what our dinner consisted of...

Sidenote... We had no utensils.  Everything captured in this photograph was consumed as a finger food.  Again, be jealous. :D

We were so tired that we collapsed in our beds, and watched some TV.  Emilie was kind enough not to watch any scary movies, as she knows I am now too big of a pansy to handle them... She's such a great best friend.

Other than the spider in my bed, the Motel 6 we stayed at wasn't too bad...  Pictured below is some of the amenities offered from their vending machine.

Don't worry, they've got you covered. No pun intended.. :D

After our stay was over, we asked the front desk guy about some fun things to do in Green River.. and he told us about this geyser about two miles outside of town.  Apparently, back in the 30's some people had tried to drill for oil near the Green River.  They weren't successful, BUT they did manage to make this awesome man made geyser.  We didn't get to see it go off, but it was bubbling ferociously!  And the landscape around it is really pretty!

To get to this cool hidden geyser we had to pass some monstrous looking rocks.  They were pretty fun to play on too!

Once we were tired of playing on the rocks we started to head back towards Ogden. 

We ate a delectable lunch at Ihop, and we realized that it doesn't work to wash your hair with the bar soap that the Motel 6 offers.. (who knew they didn't have shampoo?  Our room had a fridge and mircowave, but not a little bottle of that complimentary shampoo.  Really??)

WARNING!  This could happen to you!  So when it comes to soap at the motel 6 and your hair... just say no and run.  :D

We got the chance to visit Krystal (my future sister in law!) at work after we were done eating. We got to hear the whole engagement story.. which was adorable.  And her ring was really pretty.  Since we are engaged/married around the same time we took a ring picture!  Both are so different but so beautiful!



OH YES.. before I forget.  I'm fairly confident I popped the the couch coushin I was sitting on.  I have no idea how it happened, but as I was sitting there I heard a little "pop" then a "whoosh" as the air came out of the couch.. ooops.  Guess which side I was on ? :P

  

Future Sister! :D

This trip made me extra thankful for the great people in my life.  It also gave me an extra apprecation of God's creations.  Hiking the delicate arch is probably the prettiest hike I have ever been on... SO glad to get the chance to see God's work at it's finest!