I Love To See...

the temple.  Our family does too.  It's such an important part of who we are and what we do and believe.  Isabella keeps her own recommend and so when Wyatt turned 12 in January we were excited for him to join more family temple trips.  So we went on Satruday, April 30th for the first time with both the kids to do baptisms. 

It was awesome, it was amazing.  I hope this really leaves an impression with our kids about what is most important in this life, in eternity.  I think the smiles say it all.

A Great Time To Serve

Autumn time in our home is a great time.  It's filled with excitement and energy. Snow and Christmas are around the corner.  And each day is filled with the excitement of watching which tree will usher forth its colors.  The leaves start dropping and my kids get a manic energy.

When we lived in Utah we had our own trees turning and dropping leaves.  Now we only have one.  It's not that exciting and it drops late in the season.  Many others around us don't have that same love for autumn.  For them it is the raking of endless bags of leaves.

This year I offered out our family services to two or three individuals.  They took us up on our sincere efforts.  We raked over 20 bags of leaves, which is only a drop in the bucket for those with deciduous trees.  The weather was chilly, but not unbearable.

I love my kids willingness to help others.  I hope they remember these times as good and take this with them into adulthood.  Special note:  Issac is a champion worker and all around happy boy.   No matter the task, he has a smile on his face.  That's why he has so many pics.

Course Corrections

Nothing changed my life more dramatically then deciding to attend college in Idaho, approximately 2,000 miles, 32 hours driving, and 6-8 hours flying away from my home, from birth, in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania.  I arrived on a Saturday to campus and my housing for the next month or so before I moved to my more permanent fall semester housing via my brother who had gone there.  He took me around the town and left for the four hour drive back to Provo, Utah where he lived.  He was the closest family member to me. 

So it was I found myself at 6 in the afternoon on a July day feeling sorry for myself in my loneliness.  As a social person, a Saturday night with no plans, no friends, no prospect of friends, I felt utterly lost.  Listening to the laughter and playing of other college kids in our front yard did nothing to disperse my loneliness.  So I did what any person should do...I watched with open stalker like tendencies for a bit before I threw myself out there and asked, "Can I come play with you all?"

They happily included me in their group of friends who had all come to college together from Texas.  Eventually the guys from our group left to go home, and the girls and I trickled into one of the apartments of our four-plex front.  We then embarked on the exciting journey of getting to know someone new.  We asked and told each other all about our lives, the major high points.  We ended up staying up most of the night talking.  I knew is was a great start to what I felt would be lasting friendships, and I wasn't disappointed.

The next day these girls stumbled up to campus with me, where my future husband, Travis, would "shush" us.  We giggled endlessly and prepared for the first day of college the next day.  In that short summer term of five weeks I was able to go bridge jumping, caving, to the sand dunes to play tackle football in the leech infested water holes and participate in a hundred more adventures with these girls, including a late night traveling WWE style wrestling tour put on for my future husband. We would form an intramural football team, called Big Booty where our theme song when we arrived on the field would be "Who Let the Dogs Out".  We would take that same core group of girls and play countless other sports.

And through those girls I met many others.  Our circle of friends expanded over and over until, I had a huge network of friends who I adored.  I had met the man of my dreams, whom I would later marry.  I would alter my life plans just enough to get me to where I am today, which is exactly where I was meant to be.  It may have been terrifying in some ways, but it was the best decision of my life. 

And still I see and love these girls, though not as much as I would like.  Here's hoping that we can get a 20 year girls only reunion going in the next couple of years with all of us. 

I Love To See the Temple

It just never gets old or less beautiful.

So happy I got married here!