Vacation

You know how sometimes you plan a vacation, and you are so excited for it?? Well, that's me right now. I leave on Saturday to see my friend and her cute little family with her brand new little baby boy. I also get to see my amazing Aunt (you know who you are!) and hopefully another friend if we can figure out how to meet up since she lives a little farther away than we thought. I'm so excited that it's Wednesday, and I've completely checked out from work... Seriously... to make matters worse, we are going out to dinner tonight at my office at the Hula Hut. So, I'm getting ready to go spend an evening at a restaurant, by the lake, in my flip flops. SERIOUSLY??? How am I supposed to make it through the rest of the week???

I will have to suffer through 2 more days... Which reminds me... I should really think about packing and making sure my plans are all taken care of...

Texas

You know what I love about Texas??? This time of year when the weather is PERFECT, and the wildflowers are blooming EVERYWHERE!!! I'll post some pictures later, but I just thought I'd share that!

Elder Bednar

So, on Saturday our stake/institute was invited to San Antonio to listen to a general authority speak. We had no idea who it would be, but we all guessed, and Jonathan was the only one who got it right. It was Elder Bednar. What an amazing man! He started off by telling us that we wouldn't be getting what we expected from the fireside... It was a question and answer, so we would get more than expected! Needless to say, I loved it, and was really excited to have the opportunity to go.

There were a ton of really great questions asked, but here are the highlights from the session:
(I swear there were a TON of marriage questions... these aren't just the ones I wrote down! Ask anyone who was there!)

-"The role of a teacher is to invite learners to act."

Q: How should I read my patriarchal blessing?
A: -It applies to the many phases in life
-Look for the layers and be patient

Q: What attributes are you striving to obtain as a General Authority, husband, and father?
A: (I believe Elder Gonzalez of the area presidency answered this as well)
-Christlike attributes
-Pick one or two and work towards them.
-Increase in the character of Christ

-Focus on others when you want to focus on yourself- something E. Bednar said, can't remember the question-
-Faith is the principle of action then power.

(1st marriage question/statement)
-You do not find the right one. You find the one with whom you can continue to get better with.
-Bind yourselves to God and to each other: Think of a triangle- God is the top point and man is one arm and woman is the other. As you both grow, you will grow towards God. (Pretty cool huh?? I've heard it before, but I still like it!)

Q: E. Bednar was there for the calling of Pres. Monson. What is something he learned at that event that would help us better follow the prophet?
A: -The Lord has a plan and order for calling the prophet
-Pres. Monson is not "managing"-he is a shepherd in the the Lord's work.

Q: While graduating soon from college, and choosing a career, how do you stay faithful, and follow standards/principles of gospel?
A: -Be bold enough to stay strong and stand up for beliefs.
-There is a line for everyone that they set. We are not judged by the line that others set, we are judged on our line. Know where your line is! D&C 101:78

Q: How do you ward off fear of the next level? How do you blend spiritually?
A: - WE ARE DIFFERENT! (E. Bednar referred a lot to the "boy brain" and "girl brain," and how they work differently...)
- You will NEVER figure them out completely.
- Talk about the issues. Don't play games or skirt around the issue.
- Learn to build upon each others differences.
- He recommended a book: Terry Warner - "The Bonds That Make Us Free" (He said he doesn't usually recommend anything but the scriptures, but he thinks this is a great book that needs to be read.)

E. Bednar then asked us what we were observing and learning. Some of the answers were: Don't get an answer if you don't ask. Study principles to solve our own issues. (A principle is a gospel based guideline) JSH 18:20-Learn for yourself. The gospel demands are very rigorous and spiritually demanding, but very sweet. Pray and never give up - Alma 19:33.

-"Don't be a weak link in the chain of your generations"
-"The tentacles of grace reach out to the children"
-"The more you serve the more you know, and the harder it may become."

Q: How do I know if it's me or the Holy Ghost?
A: Quit worrying about it! All good things/thoughts come from God.
- If you are doing what is right - you don't need to worry.

These are all the notes I took. I'm sure that if you talked to other people who were there they would tell you that they heard different things, but that's what I love about the gospel and the Holy Ghost. We each are able to learn what we need to learn, and find an answer! Elder Bednar said that there were a lot of people who wanted to ask a question, but he didn't get to them, but asked for a show of hands of those who's question wasn't asked by anyone, yet they still received an answer. Most hands in the room went up.

What a glorious thing we have in the gospel! I love it! To know that there is a Prophet and apostles living on the earth today is so amazing to me! I love that we are able to receive personal revelation, and learn for ourselves. Agency is such a powerful thing, and we have to use it correctly to get back to our Heavenly Father. I love this church, and the gospel. I'm so grateful for the Atonement, and my brother Jesus Christ. He lives. I know He lives, and I'm so grateful for Him.

Sorry this is kind of long, but it was a really great fireside! I love y'all! ;)

Fancy Dinner

So... A perk of dating someone who's involved in politics is that I got to dress up fancy and go to dinner with a lot of other political people... I'm not gonna lie... it was pretty nerve wrecking. I got the call on Monday afternoon, and the dinner was on Tuesday night. So, luckily, I was the Maid of Honor at a wedding a couple years ago, and the bride (Kacey, I love you for this!) said to just get a black dress that I would wear again. So, I was able to use my fancy cocktail dress again for the dinner. It was horrible rain/humidity so my hair of course went completely flat when I stepped out of the house despite the half can of mousse I put on my hair before! It's alright though, because I still looked pretty alright if I do say so myself! :) I had fun, and met a ton of really high up there people, and had a REALLY yummy dinner... So, I will mark this down as one thing off my list of things I was scared to do, and have done! Meeting big-wigs is not my favorite thing! We sat at the table with Congressman Carter's wife and children since he was up in DC voting on something (I don't follow politics, if you couldn't tell!). She made it very light hearted, and we just had fun talking to the Carter kids who were there. I'll have to post a picture another time.

In the mean time.. enjoy a scene from my new favorite show, GLEE!!!! Love this show, and can't wait until the second season starts in April!!! Artie is one of my favorite characters on the show... Ans this is my FAVORITE song on both soundtracks!

Ok... The marathon begins... :) Since July I have started school again... It gets pretty busy, but in a mere 3 years I will have my bachelors unless I can somehow (hopefully) figure out a way to make it end sooner! I started dating this guy  in September(Sorry for those of you who didn't know!) and it's going well.  Rusty graduated with his Master's in December (yes the first couple months were a little stressful with him finishing his thesis).  I'm way proud of him for finishing...

In one of the months one of my amazing cousins came to visit...

 this is her  I love Ashley... even though she is ditching me and getting married... we were holding strong in the single cousin club that Jillian and Amy ditched a long time ago!

I had a week of concerts... It started on a Tuesday where I took Jonathan as my date to meet up with friends (remember Rusty was working on his thesis) and we saw

Plain White T's  and

Snow Patrol  while getting high on second hand  smoke and beer spilled on us... Needless to say, it was still an amazing show! Then Rusty had a couple cousins come in town for a show in downtown Austin,

  The Iveys .

Let's see what else... Oh! Nicholas got baptized, so we made a little  trip to San Antonio, and had some fun with the camera before and after the ceremony... somehow I totally missed Nick in his jumpsuit...

Jason and I having fun before...

Some of the nieces and nephews playing...

Halloween also happened and I came over to Mom and  Dad's where Jeanette and her girls were carving pumpkins...

This is how I helped out. I'm the best helper ever huh?

  the Work girls trick or treating at the retirement home in the neighborhood...

 James and Angie's girl Heidi as a pumpkin... Isn't she cute??

We were at James and Angie's on Halloween since Lillian (which by the way, Heidi says her name so cute that I ask her over and over what Lillian's name is!) was getting blessed.

James and his cute family  

We spent a day at Blue Hole Park in Georgetown for a picnic, and this is what you can do in Texas during October - Take that Utah! ;) just kidding! It was a beautiful day though!

  Jeanette, Aleis and I met Dad and Jonathan at IKEA for a reason I've still yet to figure out, and instead of helping the boys we ended up taking random pictures around the store, and getting separated from them!

 Thanksgiving came, and so did Jeremy and his two kids. Lisa was sick, but I couldn't help but show you how cute his daughter Skyler is... She even did some Jazzercise with me! :)

 Rusty took me to shoot a handgun for the first time ever... I may look happy, but it was really kind of scary... yet fun at the same time... I even blew gun powder out of my nose the next morning (I bet you're all so glad I shared that!).

 Haven't spent as much time with this Little Man as I would like, but he came to the Christmas party we had a Jason and Katrina's house.. (PS this one belongs to Josh and Andrea Hawkins... He's adorable!)

 Christmas Eve was full of people, and fun... here the grandkids are attacking Jason...  Except Aleis who's always making sure the little one's are ok(she's so cute!) And Christmas morning was spent with Jeanette and her family.  Lots more people showed up later, but again... I somehow managed not to get a single picture of everyone who came!

Off to New Year's (and then I should be caught up right?) I took New Year's Eve day off, and decided I wanted to take a random trip... So I called up Rusty, and we were able to get to stay in his Grandmother's cabin in Ruidoso... We stopped on the way and met Jeff and Karris and Hannah too! It was pretty much the greatest idea ever if I do say so myself! :) I didn't ski since '09 was not the greatest year as far as injuries went for me, but Jeff and Rusty did, and they said it was amazing! I on the other hand got to hang out with these two all day, and loved every bit of it! 

(Sorry you can't see Karris, but I still love this picture...)

This is what I walked out to every morning... 

Here are some other pictures that I think are too cute/fun not to share... Enjoy!

I think this is just a funny picture since Hannah is so randomly happy in it!

Hannah's paparazzi picture... She's a pretty big deal in case you didn't know!

Here she is again with her super cute hat on...

And here's a family picture that I think is fun...

Rusty, just hanging out with some of his new friends...

Proof that yes we were there, and Jeff and his family were our "chaperone's."

It was a pretty amazing trip, and I am so glad I was able to go!

So, I think that anyone who cares is now up to date on what is happening in my life... I promised you the last 6 months, and you got it... I did warn you it would be long too!