What a Service-y Week

Okay, I have a lot to say about last week. It started out wonderfully with my dear Lauren's birthday.I am so lucky to have her as one of my besties!

We celebrated at Jack's Pizza Oven...and I wrapped Lauren's present in coloring pages. That's true friendship.

Later that night there was a surprise party for Lauren at the Fun Center. Because she is 21 now and super mature. I took Lauren to a bar afterwards because, well, she's 21, but that's another story.

Party every day.

The service-y part started on Wednesday when Alexa and I made our regular trip to Williamsburg retirement home to hang out with our elderly friends. We had a storytelling night and stayed for a looong time listening to life stories. This is a sign that hangs in Williamsburg and it is definitely what I have learned from the amazing people there.

On Thursday Utah State University hosted Eva Kor, a Holocaust survivor who was experimented on with other twins in Auschwitz. I feel so blessed that I got to meet someone like her!

Below is a picture I took right after meeting Eva when I was exploring this old abandoned building with a friend. (I know, my life is random.) I was thinking about how lucky I was to have this big beautiful world to explore and to not have anyone telling me where to go and where to stay. Eva inspired me so much to forgive and let go of things that are heavy. She said something that has stuck with me this week: "People always ask me, 'Do you really think the Nazis deserve forgiveness?' and I say, 'Of course not. But don't you think I deserve to be free of them?'"

Forgive...you deserve it.

Later that night we had a service trip reunion at Pizza Pie Cafe during karaoke night. We ate for about three hours, karaoked, and then they said, "Hey, we're about to close and we still have all this pizza so fill these boxes with it and take it home." This was McKenna's face. We have the luckiest life.

On Friday, it was finally time for Walk a Mile in Her Shoes! I have been helping put together walk-a-mile for four years now. I wasn't able to do as much this year as in previous years, which was sad, but it is always such a great day and something I feel strongly about.

That night was my first time doing Relay For Life for the American Cancer Society. We camped out in the fieldhouse from 6:30pm - 6:30am. I put this luminaria on the track in honor of my Uncle Mark who passed away a few years ago. My extended family has been affected by cancer multiple times. I really liked talking with my team after the remembrance walk about those we had lost to cancer.

Look how cute my team was! Also Jeff was there but not in the picture because he walked like 1,000 miles and wouldn't stop.

This was our bed...made of a gymnastics mat...we slept on it for about 80 minutes.

On Saturday I got to go to the temple with these delightful girls...

And on Sunday I hiked to the wind caves. It was beautiful even though it is far too freezing to be called April.

I am so grateful for this beautiful life I am having!

I Heart General Conference Weekend...And Missions

The week of conference was off to a great start when my dear little sister got her mission call to Columbus, Ohio! I am so excited that we will be serving at the same time and will get to share similar experiences with each other. She is going to be so amazing, and Columbus is a very amazing city. Perfect fit.

Abbie and I have always been so different. My mom will tell you how difficult we were as kids because we never wanted to eat at the same restaurant, see the same movie, etc. We have always had different interests and made different choices, but now we have both chosen to serve missions. I know that each of our unique sets of talents and experiences will be consecrated for  missionary work. We are both needed, and that is so exciting!

Conference weekend started out very adorably with...Baby Animal Days!

It's a small town tradition.

After cuddling with the farm animals I headed home to go out to dinner with my family at Brick Oven. There is nothing I love more than just laughing with my family. They are always a party.

We spent the weekend together playing cards, watching basketball (March Madness!), hanging out at the Grandparents' with the extended fam, and listening to conference.

I really loved all of conference, but my favorite conference talk this time was Elder Christofferson's talk about redemption. You can read or watch it here:

"Redemption" - Elder Christofferson

Conference reignited my excitement about being a missionary. Which was great considering what happened next.

Monday morning I logged onto my missionary account like I do every day. I have a job where I sit at the computer so I always just check everything, including how many days I have left. On Monday when I logged in I saw this...

58 days? I knew that wasn't right. That's less than two months! I called the church I.T. guys to say, "This is a mistake right?" They said, "Probably but hold on."  A few minutes later I was on the phone with the missionary department with a lady who said, "Sorry...we called your stake president like a week ago...but yeah, you are now leaving on June 5th."

Um, okay!

This is a list I like to call...Things That Got Messed Up

1. My sister is graduating on June 7th.
2. My family is going on a trip to St. George on June 9th. This trip was only planned because I won't be able to go to Washington D.C. with them at the end of June.
3. The night before this happened, my roommates and I were planning a trip to Seattle.
4. I had a plan to make $1,000 between May 3rd and June 19th. That will not be happening.
5. My dad is going to be on a different continent during the week before I leave.
6. Combine fast Sunday with number 5, and basically I will be giving my farewell talk in like 4 weeks.
7. My visa is taking a long time and I was already worried about whether I would get it by June 19th, let alone June 5th.
8. I was looking forward to having two weeks of summer with my sisters. Now I will be leaving before they get out of school.
9. I had big plans for June 8th. Really, though.
 10. I wanted to finish the Book of Mormon again before I left. I am on 2 Nephi right now. Did I mention I leave 8 weeks from today?

The week that I decided to go on a mission, everything immediately fell into place and went so smoothly. I finished my papers in 10 days. I took all of that as a sign that I had made the right choice.

So what about when things aren't going smoothly? What about when I have to submit my FBI clearance twice and start everything over?

 

So that is it. I am more ready than I think I am and I am 100% excited to be a missionary. That trumps any whiny list I could ever make. 

March Is Over?

I can't believe it's April. What happened!

March was good to me. Here are some things I've been up to since getting home from Hawaii.

My dearest friend Taylor stayed with me for a weekend. We wrote letters and colored pictures for our missionary (Mallory), had dinner at the Crepery with Jess, watched a break-dancing competition, and went to PoBev with a bunch of my girls. I miss living with her a lot so it's always nice to have her here!

I have really been loving the spring weather. I forget how much my mood increases when the sun is out.

spontaneous nature  day with Alexa

spontaneous park picnic and naptime

spontaneously buying Cody the ugliest assortment of balloons imaginable for his birthday

Kim holding a baby duck. Hooray for spring!

For Easter weekend, Lauren, Alexa, my sister and I headed out of town together. I was so happy to see my dear Kaitlin for dinner at Zupa's and a bonfire in Provo Canyon. Our sleepover was made even more adorable by the fact that I woke up to most epic breakfast life could offer me.

This was my third year going to the Festival of Colors, so I finally have it all figured out - when to get there, where to park, how to not die or get instant asthma. So it was wonderful!

smile sign game...always

 I loved spending Easter Sunday with extended family at our house, especially with the warm weather. We played wiffle ball, ladder ball, badminton...and ended the night with some Easter sparklers.

April is off to a good start since my little sister's mission call is waiting at our house right NOW! I can't wait to get done with work and find out where she's going!

Peace and love.