A Few of My Favorite Things...

I have not posted much lately, mainly because I have had a great spring/summer with lots of fun activities. I thought I would post a few of my favorite things that I have done or seen in the last six weeks or so:

This is a picture of the beautiful spring flowers as I walked into the Timpanogos Temple on May 20th. I always think the spring flowers are the most beautiful!

 

 

These pictures are from a visit to Temple Square on May 22nd.  Jen and I went with our brother Mike and his family and had a great time. His family is in the first picture and the second picture is me with my sweet niece Kate. I was holding the camera and taking the picture, so it is a little close, but I love how Kate has her head against my shoulder. The last picture is Jen and I with the three girls.

Later that night we had a 30th birthday party for my brother-in-law Steve. We have a fun tradition of having a big party complete with pianta and games for 30th birthdays.

The top picture is of the kids waiting to do the pinata (look at their cute excited faces) and the second picture is of my sister-in-law Karla and Steve (the birthday boy) using the remnants of the pinata as hats. It was really cold that day, so we did the rest of the games inside, but we had a lot of fun that night.

 

This picture is from our Memorial Day BBQ/Family Birthday party on May 31st. I thought this was such a cute picture of the cousins having fun together.

These two pictures are from June 4th. I went to the Provo Temple one day and as I walked out, I was struck by how beautiful the day was!

The first picture is looking over the valley from the entrance of the temple and the second picture is looking back at Rock Canyon as I drove away. I used to work in that area and drive to Rock Canyon during lunch sometimes. I have always thought it was very beautiful and peaceful. I especially love the clouds!

This picture is from June 5th. I went to my parents house to help them plant some trees and flowers. My brother and his wife live in the basement apartment and his kids came out to help. It was so sweet! They carried things for us, helped us dig the holes etc. This picture is of me watering the flowers with Brianna and Josh after we planted the flowers together. They were so excited to help.

I just had to add this picture because it was so cool. We went to fly kites for FHE on June 7th and the clouds were amazing! This looked almost like a funnel cloud was starting to form! It was the perfect night for kite flying with lots of wind.

This picture was taken on June 12th at Stake Youth Conference.  We spent months planning it with the Stake Young Men's Presidency, and it all came together and turned out great!  This is a picture of our Stake Young Women's Presidency at Mutual Dell in AF Canyon. We had such a wonderful time, and it was fun to spend time with my wonderful friends in the Presidency. 

This picture may be hard to see, but it part of a full rainbow that we saw driving home on June 13th. I loved the many different types of weather we had this spring.

These two pictures are from June 25th at Thanksgiving Point. My sister-in-law plans field trips every week during the summer months and I was able to join this one. We saw the animals, made butter and ice cream and went on a wagon ride. It was a really fun day.

These pictures are from my nephew Brendan's baptism on July 3rd. The first picture is my brother Jon and his family and the second one is Jen and I with Brendan. I love the spirit at baptisms and Brendan was so cute and excited. What a neat day!

After the baptism we went to my sister's house for awhile. I was helping my sweet niece Kate work in my sister's garden. In these pictures we were measuring and drilling holes. Kind of scary--me with a power tool...but Dan was supervising and it turned out really fun!

 

These last two pictures are from that night at our traditional July 4th Southern Family Olympics. Jen put a bunch of pictures on her blog, so I will only put these two, but it was such a fun night. We have such a fun family! 

I was on a team with my sister Michelle's family, so the first picture is me and Jenny doing the three legged race. The next picture just shows how much fun we have. I love that everyone in the picture is smiling and obviously having fun (and as a side note, I love the view of the lake and mountians from my parents back yard.)

Well, I suppose that is more than enough pictures for now. No wonder I haven't had time to post, I've been doing too many fun things!

Other than those fun things, I have been working more at the hospital lately. I have some big decisions to make in the the next few months about work.  There is a possibility of a full time position opening up that would be a good career move, but would require A LOT more time, so I have been thinking and praying a lot about what to do. So, that has kept me busy as well.

Overall it has been a wonderful spring and summer so far.  I really do have a wonderful life!

Happy Independence Day!

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;

’Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!

Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land

Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

--Francis Scott Key

I took this picture of the flag last night at our family Independence Day celebration.  I love the flag and all that it represents!

Today, in church we stood and sang "The Star Spangled Banner."  I was really touched by the second and third verses, which we don't sing much anymore. I love how much the Founders of our nation trusted in God!

We are so blessed with "victory and peace" and I do praise the Power that made and preserved this beautiful nation!

The beautiful sunset last night!

After my month long abscence, I really should write more, but that is all I have time for today. I will write more soon!

"That ye may stand as witnesses for me..."

(The sunrise on my way to work one morning--what a beautiful world we live in!)

The title for my blog today comes from Mosiah 24:14. I have always loved that story—the story of the people of Alma who are taken into bondage by the Lamanites and apostate Nephites, and have great burdens placed upon them. The voice of the Lord comes to them in the midst of their afflictions and tells them to be of good comfort, that He would ease their burdens, and that they would stand as witness for him afterwards. I love that concept. I want to “stand as a witness” for another one of the many things that Heavenly Father has done for me.

I worked this last weekend at Utah Valley. I found out when the schedule came out over a month ago that I would be in charge of the unit during my shifts this weekend, and with staff that were newer or float nurses. I was a little worried. Usually we have 3-4 regular staff scheduled and Utah Valley can be very busy with difficult situations. I used to charge all the time when I worked before, but even though I have been back at the hospital for almost 3 years, I worried about being in charge since I have not done it for awhile and since I would be the most experienced nurse there.

One night, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t get back to sleep. I started thinking about those shifts and being a little concerned again. As I thought about it, this scripture came to mind from Exodus 3:12, “Certainly I will be with thee.” I felt like Heavenly Father was reminding me that He will always be with me, even in uncertain or difficult circumstances, and not to worry about it. I thought of that scripture and experience a lot over the next month and felt very calm about it after that.

As I said my morning prayers, and again as I was driving to work on Saturday morning I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to be with me, to help me as I cared for the precious children that I was in charge of that weekend. I felt again the promise that He would be with me.

I have to include here a picture from that morning. Since I was charging, I had to be there at 5:30. I love driving in the very early morning and seeing the dark mountains against the sky that is just beginning to be lightened by the sunrise. My camera does not take the best night pictures, but I thought I would include it anyway:

Well, both days this weekend at work turned out to be such good shifts! They were very busy shifts with lots of admits, discharges, lab draws and IV restarts, but things went so smoothly! Heavenly Father was truly with me; guiding my hands and my decisions through all the things that happened. One thing I like about charging is meeting all of the different patients. As I went and met with the different patients and their families, I had some really neat experiences.

I want to share of few of those experiences. I have to be a little vague about the details because of confidentiality, but I will share what I can:

• I was helping with a sweet baby that has been in several times. She was really fussy all day not able to calm down and sleep. Her mom, who I just love, was really struggling. I told her I would go in and rock her baby and she could take a walk to take a little break. As I was in there rocking that sweet baby, I thought of a talk by President Uctdorf from last Conference that I had listened to that morning as I got ready called, “You Are My Hands.” In the talk, President Uctdorf talks about being the “hands” of Christ in our daily lives. I rocked that sweet baby and prayed that she would feel the comfort of Christ through me. The Spirit was strong in that room as I rocked her, and soon she fell asleep in my arms. It was the sweetest thing!

• There was another patient there who has been through a lot of medical issues in the past few years. As I talked to his mother, she told me of some of the struggles she has had with his chronic problems and with other things in her life. I wish I could share the details, but she has been through some really difficult things. She has also had some wonderful tender mercies. As we talked, she told me that the struggles over the past few years had really affected her testimony. She even stopped going to church for awhile. She was back now, but still struggling. As we talked, I was able to share experiences from my own life about compensatory blessings and how I knew that the Lord would continue to be with her, that she was doing well and that there was much to look forward to. We both had tears in our eyes, and as we finished the conversation, she hugged me and said, "I am so glad you were here this weekend." What a choice experience!

• We had a fun teenage boy there that I had joked around with and helped with a few things on Saturday. I ended up being his nurse for the last part of Sunday. At the end of the day he said, “You are the coolest nurse I have ever had.” What a compliment from a teenager!

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father helped me so much this weekend. I am learning so much in life not to fear difficult things, and to trust that He will "certainly be with me" and that He will lead my paths.

I am going to end with a few more pictures. I think we have had some beautiful days lately!

The view from the parking terrace at work as I walked in one day. I love the green trees and the clouds. So pretty!

Another picture of the sunrise!

Have a happy day!

Hello Again, Hello...

(Are you all singing the Neil Diamond song now?)

Wow, I haven't posted for awhile!  I spent last weekend with my Mother in the hospital so I have been a little busy again. She is doing great now, thank goodness, and life has settled back down to a more normal pace.

The one nice thing about having her in the hospital was that I got to see her and my Dad a lot more than usual. I was pondering about that while I was there with her...how there are always blessings in the midst of adversity. She was in the hospital for four days, but by the second day was feeling much better, so it was nice to spend time just talking to her and other family members that came to visit.

I know I have said this before, but I sure love my family! I had some more fun family times this week that I wanted to blog about.

On Sunday night we had my brother Adam and his family over for dinner. My Dad ended up coming as well for a few minutes from the hospital. It was nice to sit and visit with them and their kids. The kids were so excited to be there and were really cute! I like having our whole family together, but it is nice to be with the individual families as well and have some time to talk. I was so busy with dinner and visiting that I forgot to get pictures, but it was a really nice night.

After dinner, Jen and I went to see my Mom and got to visit with my brother Seth and some of his kids, so I got to see lots of my cute nieces and nephews that night.

On Monday, one of my sister-in-laws Janelle had her appendix out (lots of hospital stuff this last week) so Jen had their kids. I was working at AF a 12 hour shift, but Jen brought the kids to see my Mom and they came up and saw me at work briefly. It was fun to see them again!

On Tuesday I went to my niece Holly's "Hope of America" program at the Marriot Center, where 5th graders from all around Utah County come together to present a patriotic program. It was a nice program, but most of all, it was nice to spend time with my brother Jon and his family.

Holly was able to participate in the program and was really excited about it. They did a great job and I enjoyed the patriotic songs and the presentations. At the end of the program they turned off all the lights and sang a song about being a light to others using flashlights. That was my favorite part of the night. It was very powerful!

Here are a few pictures from the program:

I thought it was so neat how they had the kids sitting to make an American flag. It was really well done!

My brother's family after the program.  I love how this picture turned out!

Holly and I after the program...Isn't she cute! I can't believe how old she is!

Last night Jen and I had dinner with my sister Michelle and her family. That was really fun to see them again. It has been awhile since we have seen them for some reason, and it was really nice to visit.

I had Jenni and Joe-Joe in the car on the way home and when we got to my house, my other sister and her husband were pulling up from taking my brother-in-law's Mom (who lives in the same condo building as we do) to dinner. The cousins were really excited to see each other, so we ended up having the kids come up and play while we talked.

Later, we decided to go get ice cream and I had Jenni, Joe and Emma in my car. They were so cute and fun together. I just love spending time with my nieces and nephews!  They were laughing and singing together and just so cute, so when I stopped at a light, I turned around and snapped a picture of them.  Aren't they cute?

As we were driving, I pointed out the sunset to them. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I told the kids that whenever I see a beautiful sunset, it helps me remember how much Heavenly Father loves us, so Jenni told me I needed to take a picture of the sunset.

It's not the best, since it is from the car window, but I thought I would put it in anyway because it reminds me of my fun night with those cute kids.

It has been a great week! I was reflecting this morning again about how blessed I am. I have all these wonderful children that love me so much, a wonderful family and friends, a job that I love... I could go on and on. I really do have a wonderful life!

Ahhh, Spring!

I think I have mentioned it before, but spring is my FAVORITE season! I love the warm (but not to hot) weather, the beautiful sunshine, the budding trees and most of all, I love the spring flowers!

Last Friday, I was working in the office at AF Hospital and I decided to take my lunch break outside. They have this place right off of the lunchroom called the "Healing Garden" with flowers and a waterfall. It was so peaceful and sooo nice to be outside again!

I just sat there looking at the beautiful flowers and listening to the water flowing and thinking about what a beautiful world we live in! I took the picture above with my phone camera because it was so beautiful that I wanted to remember it. Don't you love the exquisite detail of the flowers; the perfectly formed dark orange petals with the yellow and blue accents. How can anyone not believe in a loving Heavenly Father when they look at so much beauty?

This picture did not turn out quite as well, but I thought I would put it in anyway. This is a picture of the flowering tree, the spring flowers and the waterfall in the background.

I am so grateful for spring!

Another Wonderful Weekend!

(Warning... Long post with LOTS of pictures. Read at your own risk.)

Last weekend was another fun weekend with family activities and especially with General Conference. I thought I would do a hodge-podge post of my fun few days.

Ok, this first picture is not really of the weekend, it is of Thursday April 1...and the weather played an April Fools joke on us. Doesn't this look like December weather?

I took this from the balcony of my condo. I couldn't believe it when I walked by the window and saw it! The one good thing about snow in April is that it melts fast. By the next day, the weather was still cold, but the snow was melted.

That was good for our famliy because we decided to do our annual Easter Egg Hunt/Barbeque on Friday night because of Conference. It was such a fun night. The whole family was there (18 adults and 19 children) and we had a great time.

When I first got there, my sweet 3 year old nephew Joey and I took a picutre of ourselves. It is a close-up picture because I am holding the camera, but he looks so cute I just had to put it in!

The kids were really excited and so cute together. I love that they are all such good friends! Here are a few cute pictures I got.

Josh, Jenni, Brianna and Annika in a huddle. I am not sure what they were huddling about, but I thought it was so cute!

Emma, Annika and Brianna--good friends!

When everyone got there, we decided to do the Easter egg hunt right away before it got much colder. While the adults hid the candy, Jen and me stayed in the house with the kids and talked about the real meaning of Easter and sang Primary songs. It was so cute to have all those sweet, earnest faces looking up at me as I talked to them!

When we were ready to start, the little kids went out first and we separated the rest of the kids into middle and oldest kids to make the hunt fair. The little kids got a few mintues, then the middle kids went out for a few minutes, then the oldest. Here are pictures of the last two groups (I never got one of the little kids...)

The "middle kids" waiting to go out

The "older kids" waiting to go out

Some of the kids finding candy and eggs

Karla, Stace and Tiff (some of my sis-in-laws). Aren't they cute!

After the hunt was over we had a Barbeque and sat and talked and laughed. It was really a nice night. I love spending time with my family!

Two of my brothers, Jon and Seth, manning the Grill.

My brother Mike and my Dad, chilling on the couch.

On Saturday, I had to work a clinical shift at the hospital. I was sad to miss Saturday Conference, but the shift ended up being a nice one and I got off right on time!  I had some really cute kids and enjoyed the day. I love what I learn from my sweet patients! They are such an example of cheerfulness in the midst of challenges. My patients that day were so pleasant and fun to work with. It makes me want to be a better person when I see how they handle difficult situations. I can see why the Savior said to "become as a child."

I have had a really good BYU student with me the last few months, and it was her last day, so we took a picutre. I thought I would put it in because it shows me at work. I will miss working with her! She has been a great student and a great help during my busy winter shifts.

Karen and me at Peds. Don't you love the cute decorations on the windows? I work at the best place!

Sunday was a wonderful day! I love General Conference so much and I love being in the Conference Center. I was able to go to both sessions, thanks to Jen. As I sat there, I thought of how blessed I was to be able to be there, to see the Prophets and Apostles and to hear the wonderful messages of hope and peace they gave.

Sunday morning I went with my nephew Josh, who was just baptized last week. I was a little worried about whether he would be able to sit through the whole thing, because we went early and it was longer than usual because of the Tabernacle Choir broadcast, but he did great!

Here is Josh on the way in to the Conference Center. He was so excited about the waterfall!

Josh and me waiting in line. He is holding his ticket. He was so excited to have his very own ticket!

We got there at 8:00 am and got good seats. As we waited for Conference to start, Josh worked on a Conference packet that Jen had made for him and we circled the pictures of the Apostles we saw.

At one point, Elder and Sister Nelson walked by and saw Josh. Elder Nelson said, "I need to shake this young man's hand." Both he and his wife shook Josh's hand (and mine, that was fun) and asked him a few questions. It was so neat! What an opportunity for him! Afterwards I talked to him about how lucky he was, that many people all over the world would love to shake the hand of a prophet. He circled the picture of Elder Nelson and wrote, "shook hand" above it. It was so cute!

During the choir broadcast he wrote down the name of every song, and then sat and listened. During "God So Loved the World" he turned to me and said, "This song makes me feel so peaceful." It was so sweet and I was amazed that he was sitting an listening so well!

During President Monson's wonderful talk on the Resurrection, Josh turned and started talking to me about the Resurrection and asking me questions. I couldn't believe at eight years old he was still paying attention after sitting there for almost four hours! It was really sweet.

After the session ended, as the First Presidency was walking out, President Monson saw him and stopped. He pointed to Josh and said, "Young man, you go on a mission!" It was so neat!

Then, as we were standing waiting to go out, Sister Lant, who was just released a Primary General President, came up to talk to him. It was such a neat day and so wonderful that our leaders took time out to notice and care about a child. 

 

Here is Josh after Conference. He said to me, "I loved this!" and even called later that day to tell me that he had been sitting thinking about Conference and stared crying because he loved it so much. What a miracle to see how Josh has changed since his baptism and to see the Gift of the Holy Ghost work in his life.

Jen and I went to the last session together, and it was wonderful as well. She put this picture on her blog but I thought I would put it on mine as well. I thougth it was a cute picture of the two of us and we rarely get a picture together for some reason.

 

Well, since this post took me two hours to write, it has probably taken too long to read, so I will end. I guess since I only write once in awhile, I might as well write long posts :).

Wonderful Saturday!

Yesterday was such a wonderful day!

To start with, my nephew Josh was baptized and it was such a neat experience. Josh has been a little nervous to get baptized because he was worried about being under water. In fact, I remember when we went to my niece's baptism a few years ago he said, "That is just not right; you shouldn't drown people like that!"  Well, thanks to lots of prayers and help from his parents, Josh made the decision to be baptized and was really excited about it.

It was so fun to walk in and see Josh all in white and so handsome and excited! I kept getting a little teary eyed as I looked at him and as I felt the Spirit of the day. It was also fun to be there with family.

Jen and me were sitting on one of the smaller side benches and just kept gathering children as the families came in. At one point we had 8 of our sweet nieces and nephews on our bench--two beside Jen, two on Jen's lap, two between me and Jen, and two on my lap. It was so cute! I just love all those sweet children so much, and I love that they love us as well.

Here are a few pictures from the baptism. I am sure Jen will post a lot more, so I just chose a few:

Josh with his Dad (my brother Adam) and Mom (my sis-in-law Stace)

Josh with his Granparent's Southern

Josh with Me and Jen

Isn't he so cute? Don't you love pictures of children at baptisms, dressed all in white and with their countenance glowing? It was a really neat day, and Josh did really well with the baptism and was not even nervous. I love these wonderful moments in life!

I have to add one picture from the luncheon after the baptism. I told Jen she should get a picture with the two pregnant women in our family because maybe it would be good luck for her to find a husband and have kids of her own. It turned out really cute!

Stace, Jen and my sister Emilee

Last night I went to the General Young Women's Meeting in the Conference Center with my friend Rachelle, who also happens to be the Stake YW President (I am her first counselor.) It was such a great meeting! All of the talks and music were wonderful, but I especially loved Sister Dalton's talk and President Uctdorf's talk.

President Uctdorf talked about how fairy tales start with "once upon a time" and end with "happily ever after," but in between those lines each character had to face adversity before they reached the "happily ever after." Then he related it to his own life and told the sweetest story about trying to win his wife Harriet, despite the fact that at first she wasn't very interested.  

Rachelle and I were sitting right in front of where Sister Uctdorf was sitting and it was so fun to watch her smile as he talked about her. After the meeting, as he walked out, President Uctdorf put his arm around her and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. What a sweet example of true love!

My favorite quotes from President Uctdorf's talk were, "It is your reaction to adversity, not the adversity itself, that determines how your life story will develop," and "My beloved young sisters, stay true to what you know is right... God knows how to get there. He has created a map for you. He knows the way...trust Him enough to follow His plan...  That path will take you to your happily ever after destination."

The whole meeting was wonderful. You can listen to it here. It made me want to be a better person, to sanctify myself and to be more courageous. (The theme was "Be Strong and of a Good Courage" from Joshua 1.) I feel so blessed to have been able to be there in the Conference Center, in the presence of Prophets and Apostles. There is such a special feeling in the Conference Center!

Here are a few pictures from last night:

Rachelle and me at the Conference Center

The beautiful sunset as we walked out of the Conference Center!

Well, I'd better close. I am off to our family birthday party celebration tonight. I thought I would end with a few pictures of the cakes I made for tonight:

My niece wanted a "My Little Pony" cake with sprinkles (thanks for the sprinkes, Karla!)

I couldn't leave my brother out, so I made him a tractor cake since he is a builder

What a wonderful life I have!