Trump Card

I just woke up at 3AM... gotta love jetlag! But, I realized that I haven't blogged since last year! That's a little bit ridiculous! I've had some pretty amazing adventures since that last post, but the one that I just returned from would definitely be my trump card. I spent the last 19 days touring the Middle East. We did Jordan, Israel, and Egypt. While the sights that we saw were incredible and most of the time I just stood there in awe that I was actually at these places that I'd read about my whole life in the scriptures, I think that the greatest gift that this trip gave me was the associations that I gained with some of the most incredible people I have ever met. What a blessing!

The scriptures really came to life for me on this trip. As I was reading my New Testament on the flight home I could see the story more vividly and I felt like I understood more clearly. I kept thinking about how I wish I had been able to go there before I taught the New Testament in seminary or before I taught institute and how cool it would have been to have that understanding before I prepared to teach, but I am glad that I have it now. And if anything, I have gained such a desire to immerse myself in the scriptures even more and learn more about the people, places, and principles that they teach us.

Pictures to follow... I still need to get everything on my laptop. AND I still need to put up some pictures from all of my other adventures since my last post. Lots more to come!

Confession

I admit it.... I'm just not a very organized person. THERE- I said it. Don't get me wrong- I don't belong on an episode of Hoarders or anything- but I've been trying to be organized my whole entire life and it's just never really worked. I actually think I need a little bit of disarray in my life for me to feel comfortable. I've always felt guilty about my poor organizational skills but yesterday something just clicked. I was sitting in class and the presenter said "I'm not very organized, I'm not very decisive, I'm a daydreamer". For some weird reason I felt that because he said those things that it was ok for me to feel that way about myself too. I guess i thought that if he could be ok with being those things and still find success in life, then I can to! Here's to unorganized, indecisive daydreamers!!

PS- so what did I do when I got home last night????? cleaned my room, of course- Finally admitting that made me have a sudden urge to clean all night.... yeah- I might have some issues!

What's Up?

So- It's been a while. My life lately has been filled with school, fun, and traveling. It's my last year of grad school and I intend to live it up. Here are a few pictures of what I've been up to lately...

Went to lunch with Stevie and James... LOVE THEM!!

James has such a rough life!!

At the Suns/Jazz game with Janessa & Malorie

Went to the haunted house at Sleepy Hollow with Libs

More Sleepy Hollow

Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, NJ... home of the Cake Boss!

Libs and I at the Yankees game... game 5 of the AL Championships

Crazy woman at the game

Flag Football- we are HORRIBLE, but it's fun!

BPC Team.. all dressed up for All Saints Day

Golf day!

My fabulous roommate, Michelle, has been patient enough to agree to teach me how to golf. Last weekend we went to the driving range and I learned how to hit the ball and then this morning we went up to Cascade and hit 9 holes before the morning session of conference. It was so much more fun than I thought it would be. I always thought of golf as a bunch of stuffy people walking around the golf course talking about their yachts, but now I can see why everyone loves it so much. We've decided to go every week until it starts to get snowy. My putting leaves lots to be desired, but I had a few good drives. We might have gotten so frustrated with hole 6 that after we both lost our golf balls for the second time on the same hole we just decided to give ourselves par and go onto the seventh. OOPS! At least we only broke a few rules, right?!? The seventh hole mad us feel really good- Michelle got a birdie and I would have gotten a par if the stupid ball didn't jump back out of the hole when it was supposed to be in there! (I know I'm a whiner!) I think I hit every single sand trap possible! Michelle kicked my trash but tried to make me feel better by saying, "It's only your first time". At least I know it can only get better from here. AND I think that the most important skill that I acquired today was skidding the golf cart to a stop. I think that if I could just drive the golf cart around all day, I'd be a pretty happy girl! They would probably kick me off the course for reckless driving, but at least it'd be fun. :)

Here are a few pics from my first round of golf!

Definitely my favorite part... golf cart skidding! (Don't get me wrong- I liked hitting the ball, too, but there is just something about a golf cart.....)

I think I was in the sand more than on the fariway!

YAY for Golf!! :)

Happy to Be!

I've been thinking quite a bit lately about how fragile our lives are and how fortunate I am to have my health, a great education, the best friends I could ask for, my wonderful family, the gospel and everything else in life that I enjoy. I think I take it for granted too often. So- even though I may get a bit out of control and over-excited at times, I am SO grateful for how happy my life is. I'm one lucky girl! :)

When I think about how happy I am, my pre-school picture always pops into my head for some reason- maybe because I look like I'm just happy to be!

More Hawaii....

I clearly couldn't get enough of Hawaii! Here are the rest of the pictures to prove it!

Love this temple! Too bad it's closed until November for renovations!

Beautiful View of Waimea from the top of the mountain. We met a "preservationist" man who I'm pretty sure now is a scam artist- I'm so glad I gave him that $10 bill!!

LOVE Libby's souvenirs. She had the weirdest bumps all over

Laie Point. Probably my favorite place in the world- honestly!

Dinner at the PCC- yum!

Justin took us on a little canoe ride around the PCC- Kayce was so excited to get to park the canoe! THANKS JUSTIN!

Night show at the PCC

Libs and the ever-present Diet Coke

WHAT?!?!? So glad we took this pic when we did, though. They changed it the next day!

Laie Falls. More like a trickle. I remember it having more water. The hike was beautiful, though!

AMAZING view from the hike to the falls.

You will be Shot????

the girls+ Justin+ Pineapple Macadamia Nut Cheesecake from Ted's+ beach+night pics of the point= greatest night ever!

Why do I live in Utah again?

So Pretty! I love full moons

Justin, Heidi, Libby & Kayce

Heidi and Justin on the beach
Heidi, Britt, Kayce & Libs
ALOHA!

Kayce, Justin, Heidi & Libs

All of us by our cheesecake!

Waikiki- the girls quickly understood why I kept us away from this place during the day. WAY too many people. But what can you do when you have to get to the airport quickly???

Take me back to PARADISE!!!

Last week at this time, I was sprawled out on Sunset Beach soaking in as much tropical sun as I possibly could. Life was GREAT!!! Now I"m back to sitting in a classroom all day. Life is still good- don't get me wrong, but somehow, I don't think I'll get the same color sitting in negotiations as I did snorkeling. Oh well. All good things must come to an end, I guess!

Taking a trip to Hawaii before school started this year was one of the best decisions I've ever made! I hadn't been back since I was at school there years ago (It had been WAY TOO long). Heidi, Libby and Kayce all came and we had a blast. We stayed on Waikiki and spent most of our time up on the North Shore. We hiked, snorkeled, swam, laid out, went to the PCC, ate great food, hung out with Justin, got tan, and had the most amazing time ever. Life just doesn't get much better than that!

I think it's going to take more than one post to describe all of our Hawaii adventures, but here are a few pictures from our excursion (there are tons!):

Libs & Heidi at the airport in PHX waiting for our flight

Map at Pearl Harbor

Riding the ferry out to the USS Arizona memorial

On the USS Arizona Memorial

Oil seeping from the Arizona

Makapu'u beach lighthouse- Heidi, Libby, Kayce, Britt

GORGEOUS rainbow starting at Diamondhead- from our hotel balcony

Rainbows everywhere- there were almost always rainbows that we could see from our balcony- we even saw a full-circle rainbow- pretty awesome!

Me and my boyfriend at the Dole plantation

Who doesn't want to be a dancing pineapple, really?

Rotten pineapples

Britt, Libs & Heidi on the train tour of the pineapple fields

Heidi as a hippie

Libby and Justin got into a little brawl on the beach (I may have started it- oops!)- they had only met like 10 minutes before this- love it!

Libs was mad because I had Justin dump her in the sand- she thought she could win this one! :)

Sunset on Sunset Beach

Sunset Beach

Heidi, Libby, Kayce, Britt, Justin on Sunset Beach

Becoming a mermaid on Sunset Beach

Justin made a shark to eat me- real cool!

Ta-Da!

I definitely had sand EVERYWHERE!!! It was bad!

Libs & Heidi

to be continued......