something hard

The hardest thing of college so far? Missing all of the firsts. (wow, that sounded motherly.) But seriously, I miss seeing my brothers and sister off to their first day at their new schools. I missed the first day of seminary. And the hardest thing? Missing my parents' 19th wedding anniversary.

Nineteen years ago, on Tuesday, September 6, 1994, my parents were sealed for time and all eternity in this beautiful building:

And I couldn't be more glad that they were. I love them so much and I miss them so much. I know that my gift to them this year is miniscule, but I hope that they will like it. 

They say that a girl marries their favorite trait about their father. As I pondered what that actually is in my father, I thought about what I say when people ask me about my father. And I found my answer. He is so amazingly handy. He built my mother her dream kitchen. And he did it all himself. He added onto our house and only hired someone twice to do work, and it was only because he didn't have the time to do it himself: the boy next door to bring the shingles onto the roof, and someone to paint the exterior of the house. He is the resident mechanic. He landscapes and builds a garden each year. Plus, he can cook. 

Then I thought about my mother. My favorite trait about her. She is her own person and she is crafty. She decorates the house each season and has made a lot of the decorations for herself. She can create wonderful things from a little bit of fabric and thread. She is beautiful. She is amazing. She isn't afraid to get a little dirty and she can make the most wonderful food ever. 

And my favorite part of my parents: the fact that they aren't afraid to show me how much they love me. 

You remember this picture:

                                             
And this was my parents sometimes. But not always really. It was more along the lines of hugging her from behind and finding that ticklish spot and tickling her just to see her cringe and laugh. Along the lines of hello and good-bye kisses, no matter how much of a rush he is in to get to work. Along the lines of apologizing after the fight. Along the lines of being excited about sitting next to her at meals after almost fifteen years of sitting at opposite ends of the table because she can't stand hitting his outstretched feet under the table. It's really in all the little things.

And most of all, thank you Daddy for loving my mother like Sis. Dalton taught in this talk:

I love you guys and thank you for setting the perfect example of what an eternal couple should be like. I am so sorry that I can't be there this year, but I know that it's only the first of many anniversaries that I will miss. good luck Daddy with your new job. Good luck Mommy with all your crafts and work and every other thing you juggle. Happy anniversary.

it’s been said

It takes a village to raise a child. And I always had an inkling of what that meant, until recently when I saw how true that statement really is. There are so many people who have touched my life and have helped me grow. All of the teachers, all of the coaches, all of the church members, all of the neighbors, all of the friends and all of the family members. It all adds up to a rather impressive village. And I just wanted to thank all of the village people for the wonderful woman that you have helped create.

Thank you to all of the teachers who have helped me learn the importance of an education and for guiding me to what I will be studying in college and will be going to school to become “when I get older".

Thank you to all of the coaches who have helped me to learn the importance of hard work and dedication. Even if I kicked and screamed while I did it.

Thank you to all of the church members who have helped me gain a testimony of the truthfulness of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For giving me great Sunday School lessons and Young Women lessons that helped me gain such a strong testimony that can be boiled down to FIVE things:

• God lives and loves EACH and EVERYONE of us. Regardless of our misdoings.
• Jesus Christ suffered for us and the Atonement is real. Through Christ and His ultimate Atonement, we can return to live with Heavenly Father and Christ again.
• The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is what it says it is: Another Testament of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
• Joseph Smith, Jr. was a divine prophet who truly saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and restored the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ unto the Earth that we may all have the Gospel again.
• Thomas S. Monson is the true prophet of God and runs His church on the Earth today. President Monson and his counselors help the people of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and guide us so that we can return to our Heavenly Father.

Thank you to all of the neighbors who really were my village. Thank you for all of your sincere concern and care for me. It truly means the world to have good neighbors.

Thank you to all of the friends who have created a tight bond and have become my surrogate family. Thank you for making me feel loved and making Tennessee a home away from home. (Although, now Tennessee really IS home.)

Thank you to all of the family members who were my closest friends. Thank you for the countless memories and love that you have showered me in. Words can not express my love for you.

 

THANK YOU FOR MAKING A GREAT VILLAGE.

love saying

"I love you more than I did yesterday, but less than I will love you tomorrow."

Twice in the past three days I have heard this saying, and I couldn't not share it. It's so adorable. Love should grow as you pass the days by. Love is hard work. It's not a passive thing. {This} is a really cute video about love and that sort of stuff. It's by a comedian, but the point gets across. Favorite saying the entire video... "If love has anything to do with what YOU can get out it, you are doing it wrong." And is that not correct? Love is something that you should show to other people without the expectation of getting something out of it for yourself. 

A little rant from a hopeless romantic.

a new member to the club

so yesterday joined a new club: the no wisdom teeth club. and it is the worst experience to date. as everyone who has gone through surgery knows, they ask that you not eat anything 8 hours before your surgery so they dont accidentally hit anything and cause other unwanted problems (gag reflex, spit glands, etc.)  so i didnt eat anything... but i wasnt about to miss band camp because i was getting my wisdom teeth out. so i woke up like super early (5:45 AM!) to have breakfast by my lonesome, and then went back to bed until i could get up again to go to band camp. (UGH......) then i trailed my sorry little dehydrated butt through 3 hours of basic marching before i was allowed to go home and lay on the couch for two hours until i could leave for my appointment. let me just interrupt and say that that is super hard to do: sit outside for 3 hours with no water and little eat that morning in 98 degree weather, with a 105 heat index i think it hit. not exactly ideal situations.

but then i was sitting in the chair waiting for the doctor, and the nurse gives you the low down, (no eating for an hour, take your meds, soft stuff, etc.) and then she took my blood pressure and gave me the laughing gas. so well i guess i should say that i had heard one too many stories about laughing gas, and so i was extremely nervous to be on it for the first time in my life. not exactly top ten things to do before i die, kind of nervous. so i just sat there in the chair trying to relax, and it made me sick! like the room would start to spin (and i DONT do roller coasters) and so i would jolt back up, and the stinkin' blood pressure thingy would start beeping and it was just irritating (oh, we also found out that laughing gas makes me cranky and highly irritable. :) ). so then the doctor walks in and gives me the iv, and gives the the novocaine or whatever it is to numb you and then to knock you out. one of those itches like crazy in the worst spot imaginable.... i will just let you imagine that one...... and then i dont remember anything.

i woke up like 45-60 minutes later three teeth-less and got to ride in my first wheelchair to the car. mom took me through the drive through at walgreens to get the meds to the pharmacy, and then i got to spend the rest of my friday and saturday on the couch... my friend brought me moose track ice cream (THANK YOU SOO MUCH! SOOO AMAZING!) and i couldnt speak because my lips and tongue were still numb and when i did try to eat something, it was difficult because i couldnt feel those muscles, so my dad had to help show me where the stinkin drool was lol ya great times. i got sick friday night but my mom thinks it was the steriod that the doctor gave me for pain (you can split it in half if it makes you sick, and i guess it makes me sick to have a whole one! :)) but i was able to eat a pancake saturday so that is promising. and no swelling yet! yipeeee!!

i walked into band this morning, and everyone had forgotten that i had gotten my teeth out, because honestly i didnt look that bad. hallelujah!


and guys, the iv was the first shot i had had in 11 years.... yaaa you do the math on that one and tell me what i need to get......

easter

so easter wasnt too special, at least it wasnt too out of the ordinary. i sang in the choir and sang a couple of really beautiful hymns, and then i got to see all the super adorable Easter dresses of my friends (mom and dad decided a couple of years ago that we would do away with the Easter presents because they distract from the true meaning of the season: Christ's glorious resurrection.) we went to a friends in the neighborhood for a lunch and Easter egg hunt. it was a lot of fun to hold my neighbor's beautiful little Joe. hes like 6 months old and he is soooo cute. hehehehe me and little kids are soo meant to be. but Happy Belated Easter!

stake talent show

today we had an awesome talent show at my church. like so much fun. my sister sang while her best friend accompianed the song "the call" by regina spikter/ar. its a really good song. its the credit song for "the chronicles of narnia: prince caspian" if you were wondering. then a lot of friends sang or played instruments, and there were others who did both! it was really cool to see all the talent in my stake.

then we had a mom of one of the youth that is going on the youth conference trek teach us the virgina reel. SOOO much fun we all got into it and after a few times through you get the hang of it. and its really nice because you have the same partner through the whole dance, which makes it that much easier to catch onto. watch the steps on youtube if you dont know what im talking about.

then we had brother alred give us a beautiful spiritual thought about bringing the heavy burden home. they showed us the wonderful story of the willie-martin handcart companies and the call for help that President Young announced during a cold October General Conference many years ago. the video clip ends with the account of three 18 year old boys who single-handedly helped most of the company across a river in Colorado during the frigid November month. those three boys later passed on because of the effects of that relief effort but President Hinkley stated that that act alone assured them an eternal life in the celestial kingdom. what a beautiful honor. that story makes me cry everytime because it shows the great sacrifices that the early Saints made to follow the commandments of modern day prophets. what an amazing example to those of us living now who got through some rather different but similar trials. i believe that we were placed on this earth to go through our own trials and learn from them as well as others.

an amazing experience will forever be with me. a grade school friend texted me right before the final session of General Conference at the beginning of this month and told me that she had been baptized and her mom had become active again in the church. it made me soo happy to know that the missionaries had made such an impact on my life through her and it was soo great to hear from her again. i got to see her today and it was soo awesome. she is such a nice girl and i have so many fonds memories of her. ;)

temple trip

this past weekend the youth went to the Nashville Temple. you talk about an amazing experience. we took about 43 youth plus a new member and we did enough baptisms to baptize an entire ward on the other side of the veil. I am so excited. we only did about 5-10 baptisms per person because of the amount of people we had as well as time constraints but it was spiritual none the less. I did a baptism for a woman who had been born in the 1890s. you take about so cool.

we left about 730 in the morning and got home around 530 that night. the best way to spend a saturday. I tell ya. six hours in the car and a neck crap from naps is totally worth giving to the people waiting for their work to be done.

adorable bag #2

i made another bag like the black one i made a couple weeks ago, this time i made it for the girl on the colorguard that i am giving secret sister gifts to. the bag turned out so adorable and it was super easy this time because i actually knew what i was doing without having to really pour over the instructions. the only hard time i had was with the attachment of the lining to the outside. that was the trickest part.

this one turned out so cute i might go buy some of this fabric and make myself one! hahaha :)

out with the unused, but not in with the new

in last weeks sunday paper there was an article in there about a family that had given up half of everything they had. they downsized from a three story house to a house about the same size as mine, but a little smaller. they gave away half of their clothes and even decided to give up half of all of their extracurricular activities. and over a year, just through the money they saved on their mortgage payment, they were able to pay for two epicenters in africa and were able to actually go out and see the families and communities that they gave a life back to.

my dad decided it was probably a good thing to do to our house and we decided to go through our closets and donate the clothes that we havent worn in a while, or were to small. me and my sister are now down to the fifteen shirts that we wear regularly and the clothes that are necessary for the upcoming season. my little sister ended up giving like three quarters of the clothes in our closet just because they didnt fit her or she didnt like them, or she was never going to fit her. but know i want to give them to those in haiti. but i dont know of anyone that is taking clothes for them. i guess that something i'll be doing to fill this otherwise empty, day. :)