Mom's Birthday

Mom had a big birthday over the weekend! I did my best to make it special for her. I got her a new book by Elder Oaks, "Life Lessons Learned." I also made a scrap book of "60 Things We Love About Mom/Grandma." I had all of the children and grandkids contribute to it. Saturday evening we went to Olive Garden. Traci, Gary and the kids were in town and we got to see them for a couple of hours. After dinner we went to Grandma Chadwick's for some cupcakes and ice cream. It was a fun evening!

Hilary Weeks Concert

Last Tuesday was the release of Hilary Weeks' new CD, Every Step. Coinciding with that, Shadow Mtn. Records held a CD Release Concert in Provo. Instead of going into the office that day, I helped out with concert stuff. I got to do cool things like pick-up the music video, get pizza and cookies, etc. (By the way, her new music video- which I posted last week- has been viewed over 93,000 times in less than one week! Amazing!) The concert was great. I brought Mom with me. We had a great time. We even saw Sheri there. :)

Beautiful Heartbreak

Here is a brand new music video from Hilary Weeks. It is amazing. The message is powerful. You might want to grab a tissue.

Sunday Update!

I really do love Sundays. They're great. I like blogging about them too. I didn't end up teaching R.S. after all. But, I enjoyed the lesson. Who doesn't need to hear about facing the future with faith? Such a good reminder.

My Saturday ended very late... try 12:30ish. Unfortunately, my Sunday started very early... try 4 am. I was so mad that my body just suddenly woke up at that absurd hour. I decided to be productive, I worked on the ward bulletin...which needed to be done before church. I did fall back asleep for a few hours after that, thank goodness.

The full-time missionaries spoke today in Sacrament meeting. So powerful. Of course, it made me miss my mission. But, it also reminded me of how important it is that I'm a missionary right now and for the rest of my life. I'm so grateful for missionaries and the hard work they do. Speaking of missionaries, my sister gets home from her mission in less than 60 days now!

Anyway, another great Sunday. I can't say enough about how happy I am with my life right now. I have less stress in my life. The other day I even took note of the fact that I paint my nails more often now that I'm not in school. I guess I have time for it now. :) I know I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be and doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

Rice Krispy Treat Pumpkins

I'm going to a fall-themed party tonight, so I decided to make these: (Special thanks to pinterest for the idea)

I failed to think about what happens when you melt marshmallows in the microwave, so this happened. Using the stove is a better idea!

Moral Decay

I've had more time to watch TV since I've been out of school. However, I've discovered that there's really nothing good on these days. To be honest, I'm appalled at what's on TV. I think even in our LDS society we're becoming accepting of things that aren't right. It's so easy to become enthralled with a TV show and just accept that they drop a few bad words in here and there, but overall we think it's a good show, so we ignore the bad things.

In addition to TV, what's on the radio isn't much better. I think it's so easy to become desensitized. But, honestly, if we truly listen to the lyrics, we probably won't hear good things. I've noticed that there are catchy songs, but they have "the bug in the icecream" with one or two bad words. I guess lately I've really become aware of how Satan tries to influence us. He is sneaky. His influence on the world is great. I'm really quite sick of the world accepting things that are evil to be ok. Anyway, I guess I'll be done ranting. I just want to challenge us all to see how we can improve... and notice how Satan works on us. In the coming days things aren't going to get better. We've got to stand for what's strong and true.

I hope people reading this don't mistake this for a "Holier than thou" attitude. This is simply something that's been on my mind that I wanted to share. I know I personally can do better in these areas.

Friday Night Fun

Nicole and I had a fun girls night out on Friday. First, we played a mean game of bowling at the local bowling alley. I won't mention what our scores were, but we had fun! Then, we went to Wal-mart to look at pumpkins and Halloween stuff. We finished off the evening with some ice-cream from Maggie Moo's (I know, I know... definitely not conducive to my weight loss goals...). There were only two people working there and a bunch of people in line. Also, when I was up at the register ready to check-out a lady came in and said, "Your raspberries are fermented." So, the worker girl tasted the raspberries and sure enough, they were! Good thing I didn't order anything with raspberries! But, all-in-all it was a nice night out!

P.S. Unrelated side note- I just realized that my internship ends exactly two months from today! Yikes! Then what? It's time to find a "real" job! Time is flying!

An Update on my Amazing Internship!

Today was another exciting day at the internship. I decided to get off the bus by the Church Office Building this morning and walk through temple square for a change. (I normally get off by the Social Hall building.)It was a beautiful morning. I caught the picture above with my phone. I love working across the street from the temple. This morning workers were putting up Christmas lights. They've actually been doing that since August, but today some of the lights were turned on- which was fun.

Speaking of Christmas... it's coming up! I feel like I'm prepared for it more so this year than ever before. At my internship we're busy with Forgotten Carols stuff, as well as the singing group Eclipse has a new Christmas CD coming out that we are marketing. So, Christmas has been on my mind already!

I try to remind myself often that I am very lucky to have the internship I have. I'm in a routine of things now, and it just seems so normal to me(meeting semi-famous LDS people... no big deal. I do it often Ha ha.) I know there are probably a lot of people out there who want to do what I'm doing.

This morning I got to hangout with Hilary Weeks. Pretty cool. Every time a new CD releases the artist goes around to the DB stores and gives the employees a complimentary copy of the CD. So, I went with her to the downtown store. I also got a signed CD. Her CD officially comes out in stores on the 25th. Also that day, there will be a CD release concert held at the Covey Center in Provo. For tickets visit: http://coveycenter.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=351:hilary-weeks-concert&catid=1:performance-hall&Itemid=9. I'm sure it'll be fabulous. While I'm at it, I suggest becoming a fan of the Shadow Mountain Records Facebook page. We do a lot of giveaways. :)

Anyway, life is good. I'm learning a lot and loving my time at Deseret Book!

TWO New Callings, Wonderful Sunday!

Today has been a really good Sunday. I want to share my thoughts about it here.

I got sustained in church for my two new callings- ward publicist and visiting teaching supervisor. Now, let me just say- don't pray to receive a calling unless you are prepared to receive TWO! Ha ha. Seriously, I had been wanting to serve and now I have two great opportunities. It'll be good.

I got set apart by the bishop afterward and it was amazing. There were things said that I needed to hear. Side note- my bishop is great. I just love him and his wife.

Last Friday there was a convert baptism. Today, the guy was confirmed in Sacrament Meeting. Can I just say... AMAZING?! Convert baptisms are pretty rare around here. The guy got up and bore his testimony of the truthfulness of this church. It was powerful.

I think sometimes we take this gospel for granted. I know I definitely do. But, really it is so amazing and so important. We are so blessed. I feel so blessed to have knowledge of the Gospel and the blessings that come with being a member in my life.

After church we had dinner as a family, (well the family that is around here). We reminisced a little about times growing up. It was so fun.

Great Sunday! Great way to start off my week.

Weekend in St. George

This past weekend my dad and I went to St. George to see my sister and her husband run in the St. George marathon. There were a ton of people there! More than 5,000 people ran the race! It was hard to find a spot to squeeze in to see them run to the finish line, but we managed. I must say, it was interesting seeing people towards the finish line. They had just run 26.2 miles. Insane. There were actually military people nearby to catch people as they fell. My sister said that one lady was taken out on a stretcher 1.5 miles before the finish. Now that's depressing! I've got to hand it to people who put so much time and hard work into training for a marathon. I'm sure it's no piece of cake. (Ha ha.) It was kind of inspirational, to be honest. But, it definitely confirmed to me that I don't want to run a marathon!

It was fun to spend time with my niece and nephew. They are adorable as always. Before we left for the marathon we had conference on. My niece turned off the TV and said, "That's Sunday stuff. Today is Saturday." LOL! Kids say the funniest things!

Speaking of conference, I was sad to miss the Saturday morning session- especially since President Monson announced 6 new temples! Boy, you miss one session and you feel like you've missed so much. I heard he was pretty late to conference too. Well, luckily it's available online and I've already watched it and some of the priesthood session too. I'm so grateful for modern day prophets and apostles to lead and guide us.

Anyway, it was a great weekend away! Congrats to Traci and Gary for finishing the marathon!

26 by 26

My weight: It's something I don't like to talk about, a reality I don't like to face. I've struggled with my weight my whole life. The other day I came across a picture of me right after my freshman year of high school. I had been in aerobics class everyday and lost a lot of weight. I looked good and was very healthy. Today, not so much.

So, I have a goal. I'm making it public so I can feel more accountable. The fact that I'm talking about it is a big deal, because I don't talk about it at all. My goal: Lose 26 pounds by the time I turn 26. That gives me 6 months. I definitely want to lose more, but that's a start. I don't want to disappoint others and myself, so I'm going to do my best to work hard and remind myself of my goal.

Here's to making my life better!