School

I'm pretty excited for this semester. The first day I just sat in on the classes and they pass you the syllabus and they give you all of these due dates. This was a little overwhelming because a lot won't be homework but it will be projects and quizzes. Yikes! But you just take it one day at a time. You stay on top of things. You turns the nerves into excitement to get things done.
In my sewing class the other day. I anticipated it would be a pretty fun class, I enjoy sewing quite a bit. I know how to sew my basics. I'm pretty confident about it ya know. But then as she went around the room and had people talk about their past experience, I felt as though I wouldn't be able to sew a small button. These others were saying they have made wedding quilts and someone made all of their own dresses for their high school dances. Definitely humbled. I have a lot to learn. So I'm excited to learn new things and realizing this is a really neat opportunity to learn from others. So here I am also multitasking, thinking about the sewing projects I get to decide to work on. I'd really like to make a dress and so I have some ideas for it. Thank goodness for tutorials!

(Hand-Painted Front Zip Lemon Dress)

(Embroidered Fit and Flare Dress)

(Lime Lace Pencil Dress)

I really like her stuff. Credit for these pictures and tutorials. Follow the link: Merrick's Art

Cali

I had plans to post this sooner but now is as good of a time as any before it's too late. Just before school started, one of my best friends offered to take me and my other friends to go to San Diego with him. He served his mission there and wanted to go before things got busy again. I love these pictures. I will hopefully get some more pictures from my friends. We visited people that he taught. This trip was so much fun. We went to the beach for hours and then after being so burned, we went to the temple the next day. It is beautiful. There is so much more I would say but I feel very fortunate to have gone. We are family. Everyone around us.

Visiting a family S taught. They were so sweet.

At the temple still, waiting for K to help someone take a picture.

Hoover Dam

We met up with S's friend L and had breakfast and
then headed to the beach.

S and K with mermaid tails

Pho and Boba

San Diego Temple. S and I did a session
and the others did baptisms.

Went to Julian and got some pie.

Had to stop to take a picture. It was sooo hot!

The view from someone's backyard/porch

Hoover Dam

The beach! We literally spend most of the day here.

K and I standing in front of a cooling
station at the Hoover Dam.

The Happiness Project

Today in Relief Society we had a fantastic lesson about the Book of Mormon. We discussed how powerful it can be in our lives and what it's purpose is. At the end of the lesson they challenged all of us to read it again and this time with a specific purpose in mind. This may not be the norm for some people but I LOVE it when I get a Book of Mormon challenge. They gave us our own copy and they challenged us to be done by December 5. So....as I have mentioned before, I don't think people really read my blog but if you do, I challenge you to join me in this. Either find your own theme this time or join me with this one. It's called The Happiness Project. The promise is that we will find greater peace and happiness through reading. Some quotes they gave us:

"If you will study the scriptures diligently, your power to avoid temptation and to receive direction of the Holy Ghost in all you do will be increased." - Thomas S. Monson

"The Book of Mormon is an endless treasure of wisdom and inspiration, of counsel and direction."
-Boyd K. Packer

"Don't yield to Satan's lie that you don't have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media." - Richard G. Scott

They had figured that in order to make it, you read 2 chapters a day. That's not bad at all. In reading you can find answers to your questions, feel peace, find something you need help improving on, find/recognize God's blessings, etc. It will bring you happiness.

I have read this book before and I know it's true. Everything about it. It brings me peace and has given me guidance. Those in the book were actual people and events happened the way it says. I know that the prophet Joseph Smith did translate this through the power of God. Enjoy!

If you don't know what I am talking about and you want to know more you can go here: https://www.mormon.org/

Day at the Lake

Yesterday we had a family reunion at Rockport Reservoir. We had family here from Idaho and New York. The weather was perfect. There was a slight breeze which made it kind of hard to paddle if you got out too far from shore. But it was sunny up to the end and then it threatened to rain. We brought up lunch and of course mingled. My cousins all have kids since they are a bit older than my siblings and I and so we have fun with our little second cousins. I played in the mud which sounds kiddish but it was fun. It reminded me of the beach and the little ones tried to make mud castles which didn't work too well but it was fun trying. It was cute to see their faces light up when you got a big scoop of mud and then dropped it from higher and it would splat everywhere. We brought up paddle boards and kayaks. I'd never been on a paddle board before. My uncle got me out there and my legs were super shaky. He made it look so easy. But he was kind and encouraging and I made it. It was a running joke that when he first sent me out there I almost got as far as the buoy and the wind kicked up and I about fell over. So the tease was that he sent me out to my death. It was fun. We also saw the Tour De Utah bike race go past us. I wish I would have gotten a picture of them.

Yep, that's my uncle behind me photobombing

One Week Left!

Gosh I remember when the summer started and although the weeks were great, it seemed as though the number of weeks were increasing. At least it felt that way. Now we are down to one week and I can still remember some of my kiddos from the first and second week. As the weeks have been winding down, more of my coworkers have left to be done for the summer. Now we have just enough people to finish with two counselors in each group. At the end of last week, we got a picture as staff. We are only missing Kenzie because she is setting up for her new classroom at the elementary school she now works at.

As you can see, we tried to make a pyramid. Last minute my knee slipped and I was fully laying on Caroline. It was so funny we couldn't stop laughing. 

                            

Great Weekend!

Haha something I have realized is that I am the worst at finding good/creative titles for my posts. Does it really matter though? I guess not as long as I post right? This weekend really was great though. Friday, my sisters and I had sort of a girls night out. After we got home from work we went to Traverse Outlets and went shopping. Something I've learned is that I don't enjoy frivolous shopping. I have to have a plan of what I came for and then I like to go in and then out. As you can tell, I enjoy taking pictures with sunglasses on. I am picky about what kinds I buy and so I try a lot on and normally walk out of the store empty handed with only pictures to show I tried. We got dinner and then went to the Escape Room. It seemed a little sketchy at first because it was a trailer that was parked in the parking lot of a diner, not to mention it was 10 pm. They gave us 45 minutes and they locked us in and we had to use the objects around the room to solve puzzles to get the key to get out of the room. It was really fun. We didn't make the time limit but it was only because we didn't know how to use the locks. We had everything else ready. It was a fun night.
The next day I went to a baptism that one of my best friends invited me to. I didn't know the person but I really enjoyed it. I haven't been to a baptism in a while. After, we went to my old house and got permission to walk through it. It is a lot smaller than I remembered. Then again, I was a lot smaller then too. We went around SLCC and caught some Pokemon and I learned about the gyms. I can't wait to get it on my phone. We then went to Panda Express for lunch. Pretty much a great morning.
That afternoon I went up Big Cottonwood Canyon to a Brighton Camp reunion. We celebrated 95 years. I met some awesome people. We did activities and some crafts. Something I really missed was singing camp songs. I got my dose of it again and I loved it. We slept in the bunks in the cabin I was in charge of when I worked there. We were going to sleep outside by it was a little rainy and there was lightening. The next morning we went to the branch up there. They hold meetings and the current staff spoke in sacrament meeting.
Yeah, so today isn't technically included in the past weekend. Tonight M and Dad took me to "Taste of India". I've never had Indian food before. They gave us their take of chips and salsa. It came with 3 sauces; one brown, one red, and one green. The green one was spicy. I have to say, I didn't really enjoy it which made me very nervous about the dish I ordered. It was called Chicken Saag. It doesn't really look good but let me tell you, it was wonderful. They served it with some really good rice. It's fried chicken in a creamy spinach sauce. Holy Yum!
Try new things! Have an adventure!