wow....

WOW...is the word. My sister Lou called me on Sunday about 12:45, "congratulations you have a new little nephew. 9.7 oz, 22 inches long". My response...in tears....WOW! I am so excited for Lynsie and Ezra they have waited so long. I can't help to think how much I want to be a mom, how much I want to start my own little family. I know it will happen one day! I also got a call from a sweet close friend tonight. She told me she has breast cancer, she is my age and she has breast cancer....WOW. I didn't know what to say, what do you say? I am constantly reminded how precious life really is...looking at the miracle of a new born baby and learning that life can be changed instantly. I was reading in first Nephi, its the part where Nephi has to get food for the fam, but everyone is murmuring so its not working out the best for him. There is the part of the scripture that says "by small means the lord can accomplish great things" or something similar. Isn't that so true. The lord wants us to be great! I can be great! We all can be great! In order to be great we have to do the small simple things. Thats my random thoughts of the day.

Family...its all about family.

I haven't blogged in such a long time. School has been keeping me busy, and then I was sick for two weeks...I didn't have a voice for days. I recently was called as a relief society teacher. I teach for a living, but this is my first teaching calling. I am pretty excited about it. So today we had the lesson from the Joseph Smith Manual #42, Family: The sweetest union from here into eternity. It was such a sweet lesson and while I was preparing I couldn't help but think how blessed I am to be in the family unit that I am in. I have so much support from all sides...immediate and extended. I often wonder what I did to be born where I am in and in the family that I am in. The thought can be quite overwhelming. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have and I truly love my family.

Hood Rat Reunion 09

When I lived in St.George and went to school, four of my good friends and I got the nick name of the hoodrats. We didn't understand that it was such a negative title but we were really proud of it. We decided that we haven't been together for about six years and it was time for a little girls trip. We choose beautiful San Diego. Raquel is expecting her baby in October and her doctor wouldn't let her fly, so sorry Quel but we had tons of fun without you.











Our first stop was of course pedicures...oh a little something extra for Alecia...although I don't think she will want me to share it.

We found this cute little store at the Village Shops in La Jolle, it was called Local. All the merchandise in the store is made by local artists. We decided to each purchase one of these super cute and unique rings. Mine is the big green flower...and I love it.
So Jenn the tall one in the black. She still likes to club. So we decided since she did everything we wanted to do that we would go out with her. Don't get me wrong I still love to dance, but the idea of going clubbing is not that exciting for me. But we went. We didn't last very long, but we went.

This is a pic sitting on the couch at the club. I danced all of about five minutes before someone spilled their drink on me. Luckily Jenn decided we were all lame and then we could leave. I never thought I would be lame.

Down at Seaport Village. Word to the wise, don't lose your parking ticket...or it will cost you.

La Jolle beach. It was so much fun. I could have stayed there for hours. Don't worry I wore sunscreen.

We had such a good time. We only got one parking ticket and got our room comped for one night because of a broken toilet. I am so blessed to have life time friends like these lovely ladies. We get together after years and it was just like we saw each other yesterday. Hoodrats 09! Love you girls!

Slumber Party Adventures

I had my two little (okay not so little anymore) nephews over for a couple of nights. We had a really good time. While we were driving to my house, my nephew Tanner made the statement, man I wish it was Christmas. I asked him why, and then he said so we could make gingerbread houses. It told him we could make graham cracker houses at any time of the year, so we did. It was fun and of course messy. We also went over to Aunt Ashley and swam in her pool and ordered pizza. We went and saw GI Joe and then did a little school shopping for the boys. Not to forget the Lake. I miss these boys, I wish they lived closer to me.


The finished products. Looks good enough to eat....oh wait we did!

We went to the new Daybreak Lake. It was a lot of fun, the sand was really nice. The boys had a good time.

Emma and James building their sand castle.

Isn't he the cutest. He kept eating handfuls and handfuls of sand. I told my sister she is going to have fun changing those diapers.

It was 10:30 and I was ready to be up, but these boys were still snoozing away. I finally made lots of noise in the kitchen. Of course they woke up for delicious German Pancakes on day one. and french toast on day two. Tanner told me that I make the best breakfast ever. I told him that was because they were so special!

some more summer fun

This is my friends wedding. We had a great time. Doesn't Mel look great?

My twenty dollar toes! Aren't they cute?

Seven Day Summer Road Trip

I just had a great little summer road trip with my mom and my sister Lou. We flew into Kansas City, Missouri and headed on our little LDS church history tour. The tour guide...myself. Our first stop was Independence. What a great little city with a fun little facts about our amazing church. We found this great little candy store and Mike the owner made us fresh cotton candy. It was also amazing to see the LDS visitors center across from the Community of Christ and the Church of Christ. I loved learning about both of these other religions and it made my testimony grow even stronger.

Day two...Liberty Jail. It was super amazing and such a good spirit. I also learned that my fifth great grandmother was one of the women to prepare food for the Prophet and others while they were in the jail. Stop two....Far West...what a beautiful place this was, definitely a holy land. It was great to see the corner stones of the temple lot. Stop three Adam-ondi-Ahman...wow so beautiful. Pictures do not do this place justice. We then drove through cute Jamesport a little Amish community and spent the night in Chillicothe.

Day three...Hannibal...home town to Mark Twain (okay Samuel Clemens). We road the Mark Twain riverboat up and down the Mississippi. I also found a cute antique shop and spent a little too much money on a great 1910 circa steamer trunk( Oh Fiddlesticks)We then left and headed to beautiful Nauvoo. This town is amazing. So much to see, do and learn. The whole place has such a sweet spirit. It was just another testimony to me on why I love the church. The pageant was super great, along with all the other shows...almost Broadway worthy and they are FREE!!!

The temple was probably the highlight of my time in Nauvoo. I loved the history and the story of the temple and loved the inside.

We spent three nights in Nauvoo and still didn't get to do and see everything.

St.Louis was our next stop. I price lined the hotel and we had a great four star room at the Hilton downtown. It was by far the nicest place we stayed and the cheapest...even with the $18 a night parking. We were two blocks from the amazing Gateway Arch. In a pod and up a tram 630 feet to the top of the arch. It was a little freaky at the top but so worth the ten dollars we spent. The next day we found a church and hit the St. Louis Zoo. Its was free also and it was a super awesome zoo. We had fun acting like zebra's, monkeys and bears. Or maybe a Tizard, Girabbit and a Hornelphant ( inside joke, right Lou?) We then went to the Delmar Loop ranked one of the top ten streets in America. A fun little place with lots of fun shops and vintage clothes. I scored a super cute timeless dress.

We then meet Pat. Our friend Pat from Arizona, he took our picture in front of Busch Stadium and then joined us for dinner. He is retired from the military and before we knew it it paid for our dinner, said thanks and to pray for our troops and left. What a nice kind stranger. Our last day in St. Louis we went on a free tour of the Budweiser Plant, not originally in our church history plans but super interesting non the less.

So overall I had a great time and didn't spend as much money as I thought. I loved every moment and was glad to share it with my mom and sister. My heart is full for the love of our early saints who came and paved the way before me. I know more than ever that the church is true. Life is great! Even if my summer is slowly coming to an end.

summer days

I have had the opportunity to serve a couple times at the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. I am so excited to have a new temple five miles away. The temple is absolutely beautiful inside and out. Today I worked the 11-4 shift and was helping with transportation and parking. I actually got to greet every car as it came in and I couldn't believe where people came from. California, New York, Iowa, Canada, Texas, Washington, and Colorado just to name a few. I have three temples that I can see from my back porch, I seriously am so blessed.

I had a slumber party with my niece again. We had such a good time and she says the funniest things. For example, her mom asked her if she slept good, her reply." I didn't get any sleep because aunt Amy was snoring so loud." I admit I could have been snoring, but she did sleep at least until 6:15 when she woke up...super early. Then she was in my closet and asked if she could try on my shoes. She picked out this gold pair and then asked if she could try walking int them, and then said these almost fit. I laughed. She walked over to my mirror and then came back for another pair. This pair was white patented leather, she then asked me if those were my wedding shoes, because they looked like glass slippers. It was so cute, she would then walk over to my mirror and admire them, take them off and then back for another pair. When she was done I had about ten pairs in front of my mirror, and her favorite were the pink pair of glass slippers. I knew I owned alot of shoes, but I never knew I owned that many pairs of glass slippers.