Food for Thought

You know when you are struggling with something and then the lesson in Sunday School or Relief Society or both is about the very topic you are struggling with. I had one of those experiences today. I have discovered recently that I am fairly judgmental. This has not been a fun discovery but it will be fun to work on correcting this problem- or at least that is what I tell myself. This thought was shared in Relief Society today and I loved it and wanted to share it again and think about it always so that I can continue to work on improving myself everyday! 


             ' Let people repent. Let people grow. Believe that people can change and improve. Is that faith? Yes! Is that hope? Yes! Is it charity? Yes! Above all, it is charity, the pure love of Christ. If something is buried in the past, leave it buried. Don’t keep going back with your little sand pail and beach shovel to dig it up, wave it around, and then throw it at someone, saying, “Hey! Do you remember this?” Splat!

            Well, guess what? That is probably going to result in some ugly morsel being dug up out of your landfill with the reply, “Yeah, I remember it. Do you remember this?” Splat.

             And soon enough everyone comes out of that exchange dirty and muddy and unhappy and hurt, when what God, our Father in Heaven, pleads for is cleanliness and kindness and happiness and healing. ' (Elder Holland)

I just LOVE this thought. Who wants to be dirty and covered in mud? Who wouldn't rather be clean and and kind and happy? I know I would which is one reason why I am going to actively pursue this non-judgmental kind of attitude and, hopefully, one day, I can be a little more like my Savior, Jesus Christ, by being a little less like the natural man which has been plaguing me recently!

Mona

Please ignore Ian and James in the front...

There are a handful of things that everyone talks about doing in Utah that I have still not done in Utah despite the fact that I have lived here for the last almost five years of my life. Some of these things includ,e but are not limited to- driving the Alpine Loop in the fall, going to Lake Powell, going to Manti (ok, not everyone talks about this but I decided that it is definitely something I want to do before I leave), etc. Thankfully, yesterday, I was able to cross one of these 'everyone's favorite Utah activities' off of my Utah bucket list. After careful planning- or not- a group of us headed down to Mona yesterday to play on the rope swings at Burraston Ponds. The pond was just that- a pond, kind of dirty and such, but it was so fun! We brought all kinds of snacks and the boys brought fun activities like corn hole- if you have never played corn hole, you probably should. Best of all- even with all the shenanigans going on, no one got severely injured. We did have a minor foot injury but I am going to go ahead and count that as a victory. Thanks for a fun day everyone who came and thanks for keeping me entertained Utah, maybe you are not so bad after all.

This is Rachel- She is great!

Her Majesty, The Queen

This last weekend was a pretty special one. There was a lot of celebrating going on in our family. We celebrated the end of one, incredible life and the beginning of a new life, full of potential to be just as incredible.
 My great aunt JoAnn passed away almost two weeks ago and she is already sorely missed. She was an amazing lady. The kind of person that you aspire to be like. I have so many memories of her house, her laugh, her sarcastic comments- I am going to cherish those memories for the rest of my life. Most people might ask, 'how well could you really know your great aunt', but that is the great thing about our family- I really did know her and I really did love her and I really do hope to be like her one day. I have to mention her girls as well and their families. I love that no matter how long I go without seeing them it is a happy reunion when we cross paths again. We hug and kiss and smile and chat and I can feel their love and that made this weekend even more enjoyable. I am glad to have known JoAnn and glad that she is now forever reunited with her sweetheart, Martin, who, I learned this weekend, referred to her as his queen.

I do think this picture may be the sweetest picture ever taken.

The contrast of the beginning of life and the end of life was an interesting one to watch and experience this weekend but I was thankful for it. I am thankful for the Plan of Salvation and for the knowledge that our families truly can be together forever. Watching little Olivia Mae be blessed this weekend and thinking of just how hard her parents worked and sacrificed to get her here built my testimony of the love of family and the love that our Savior, Jesus Christ, has for each of us. I am thankful for the occasions that bring us together. Grateful that I got to spend the weekend with my parents and my grandparents and with my favorite Youngs. It was busy and exhausting enough that I baked a metal spoon into a loaf of pumpkin chocolate chip bread... that is another story... I loved every second of it. I am thankful for the new addition to our family in Olivia and I will be forever grateful for my association with one of the backbones of our family- JoAnn, or The Queen. To quote the JoAnn and Martin Hickman family, ILYBATWSM.

There is a pretty momma and a pretty Liv.

I seriously love this photo and I seriously love this man- my  Papa Bob.

Blog Slacking

So... It has been awhile since my last blog post. Life has been pretty tame in the last little while, not a ton to report, I will share the highlights though- briefly.

Upon finishing my semester in December I officially graduated from Brigham Young University with a Bachelor's degree in Athletic Training. Skip forward to the month of March which was riddled with job drama for me. I was offered a job at a clinic in Riverton but was waiting to hear from BYU about a position and had to keep Riverton waiting and was caught in the middle of all the waiting! For those of you who know me, you know I am not the most patient person and this particular situation was really hard for me! Thankfully, my waiting paid off and I was offered the job with BYU and will start working there in the fall! So excited about this! For the last couple of months I have been just working at Brick Oven and trying to have as much fun as possible! Now that summer is here that fun includes sunshine and swimming and hiking and taking full advantage of the natural playground that the state of Utah is.

Looking ahead... this summer I am getting two different surgeries and following the second one I get to go home to Seattle to hang out with the fam for a good couple of weeks- I am really looking forward to this, practically counting down the days!

Like I said- life is not the most exciting right now but it is good and I have a couple pictures to share to help illustrate that point!

This picture was taken at our Memorial Day picnic in the canyon- sometimes I am AMAZED by Utah's beauty.

This picture was taken at Lake Day- we are trying hard to find excuses to be in the sunshine!

This was another day I was amazed by the beauty of Utah- we hiked up Stewart Falls and I couldn't keep my eyes off of my surroundings, I was simply amazed!

Another picture from Lake Day... the water was FREEZING!

This is my latest battle wound... I wiped out on a run in the canyon trying to avoid a run-in with a handsome mountain biker. You can imagine my embarrassment....