Blog Sweet Blog

Well it really has been some time since, the last time I have blogged. Between an exhausting full time job and an intensely busy school schedule I have barely had a moment to breathe let alone blog. But here I am holding my breath.

I have been doing lots of different things this semester. I sold pies at the Rexburg Farmers Market and I am also one of the Relief Society Presidents in my ward. But I am getting ahead of myself here.

Part One: Last winter (December-May/June) -yes I am grouping Spring with Winter-

I was home working and meeting tons of new people and making lots of new friends and chilling with my old friends. To the right is what happens when I am put on house arrest. We watched several movies and then went picture happy on the floor.

We went shooting in a quarry in Enumclaw. It was so much fun. And don't worry there was no one taking the picture.

 This is a beautiful picture that I have been wanting to take for the last three or four years. This tree only blooms for a week while all of the other trees around it still have no foliage.

 I ordered a Cricut Expression, (and it just about broke the bank.) This is an incredible die-cut machine that can cut paper, fabric and vinyl, in very large sizes. I had a lot of fun opening everything up and learning how it all worked and watching all of the instructional videos. I have lots of plans for implementing my Cricut.

Brodi also had lots of fun playing with the box. :)

This was a double bridal shower that I threw for two of my best friends Jessica and McRae. I flew up to Rexburg and stayed with them and also custom made them bridal shower books.










These are pictures I took with each of them over that weekend. I love them very much and am so very thankful for their wonderful friendship with me and for their sweet, sweet spirits. Love you ladies.

Jessica married Jared Moore on May 14, 2010 and McRae married Travis Van Noy on May 29, 2010. Both very wonderful days.

My family went on a cruise to Mexico, Belize, and Honduras. We also went to Disney World these are a few of the pictures that we took.
Here we are cave-tubing in Belize. Two words come to mind:
"butts up!"

Here we are on an old Mayan temple. Cool huh?

 This is a me holding a monkey. Yeah. A real life monkey. It was so cute! And if you look closely it is playing with my feather earrings that I had gotten probably twenty minutes earlier. It was so fascinated by them. It was petting them lovingly. This was just before we went Zip-lining from the top of the island of Honduras all the way down right next to the beach, which means we hooked on and off about 18 times. The picture below is just before we started. I was worried about my expensive sandalthotics I had just got, but they were fine. The next is a picture of me in the process of ziplining. The two guys said I was a natural, or maybe they just though I was cute. It was such a rush!! My fear of heights was definitely remembered while I was soaring over the jungle. Intense.

 Isn't this beautiful! This was the port we stopped at in Honduras. There was SOO many beautiful places! And when we went snorkeling I saw a "Dory" fish! I was kind of excited.

This is Brodi and me waiting in line at the Tower of Terror in Disney World. People had just screamed. We were scared.
That was an awesome ride I recommend with two thumbs up.
It was fun when Brodi and I were running around to all the different rides we did all these different poses for when the cameras took the pictures. We started getting pretty creative.

And then when I came home everyone left. For school, for Utah, for missions, for Boise. And the rest of my summer was pretty uneventful. This was kind of our last who-rah, we went to a drive in, like 20 people, and we watched How to Train your Dragon. Cutest movie ever.

Look for Part Two coming soon!

Vampires, Food, and Football

During the weekend of the 13-15 of November, I went down to Salt Lake for Time Out for Women. It was a wonderful weekend. I was able to spend time with almost all of the women on the Gorringe side of my family. Mom, Aunts, Cousins, Cousin-in-Laws; the whole she-bang. We had such a good time with so many different speakers. I committed while I was there that I wanted to share the message that we gathered. We had speakers such as Wendy Watson Neilson, Sheri Dew, Mary Ellen Edmunds, Hilary Weeks, S. Micheal Wilcox, Emily Watts, and Kris Belcher. It was a spiritually high weekend! On my return drive on Sunday I decided I need to stop and check my tires and use the restroom, the first place I came across was a small town exit of Virgina, Idaho. I pulled off the road and the first and what looked like only building was a church building. An LDS church building. ;) I pulled in the parking lot. Check my tires real quick and then went inside, hoping I wouldn't come across anyone who would think I was a suspicious character. When I walked in that small building I heard Primary children singing songs. A man teaching what sounded like a Sunday School lesson. At that moment, I was so thankful for the Church's that we have all over the world.

Thoughts From TOFW

• When a Righteous Woman says, "There is something not quite right here, there is something very wrong." -Wendy Watson Neilson of her abduction
• The Liberty Jail, a horrible memory, a horrible place of darkness in Church History was filled with light and made into a prison temple with all of the Revelations that were received there by the Prophet Joseph Smith. In the most miserable experiences of our lives, they can become moments of light and knowledge to us.
• Live by the words: Not Even Once.
• 2 Nephi 25:26
• Society is made up of families, and when families collapse, so do societies, and when societies collapse so do countries.
• Sometimes we act like we're going to stay here, but we aren't, we can't and we won't. -Elder Holland
• Three Things that the Adversary tries to get us with: 1. Confused about who we are. 2. Keep us from understanding what the Savior did for us and what he will do for us. 3. Keep us from receiving personal revelation. Things we need to keep in mind. 1. We have always been a child of God. Not just now. We're here and were on assignment. The lord wouldn't send us here at this time if we couldn't handle it. Abraham 3:22-23. 2. He didn't just make it possible for us to repent, he made it possible to heal us. 3. Our degree of purify is a prerequisite to feeling the spirit and having it's guidance in our lives. "Receiving Revelation" Richard G. Scott 2009 General Conference.
• It will not always be easy to stand for truth and righteousness, but we will not forgive ourselves if we don't do it.
• Our Life-Assurance Policy is the Great Plan of Happification.
• The scriptures are the handbook for Life Assurance.
• Sweet Assurance- The certainty that comes when you know life's truths.
• At night I turn all of my problems unto God. He is going to be up all night anyways.
• Sweet Assurance is knowing that God is truly with us.
• Sometimes it's the trial of our life who make us who we have to be; who the Lord needs us to be.
• We do all that we can to get the fruit, we water the seed, we feed the seed, we shelter it from storms, but there is something that we cannot control and that is the sun. The son blesses the seed and helps it grow in a way that nothing else can.
• Heavenly Father won't give us anything we can't handle by ourselves.

I know if you know me you're asking "What is that poster doing on her Blog?" One very easy answer. When I came home for Thanksgiving Break my family, my friend Brandan, and I all went to this movie. I'm not going to waste time and space by venting my Twilight thoughts and feelings, but let me just say this. I enjoyed this movie a lot better then the first one (at least up until the point when Edward came back on the screen), I did laugh a lot, but this movie did make me at least want to finish reading the series. I can also tell you that I am most definitely Team Jacob -in the movies at least-.

This is a picture that my brother and I took at Fred Meyer's after we had watched the movie. Love it! He's the best and I miss him already even though my flight leaves in like 15 hours.

This was our Thanksgiving Feast! It was delicious! We had a family in our ward, The Roberts, come and eat with us. It was so much fun to have them all and then we played the game Ticket to Ride. I definitely recommend it!

These are the Elders that are serving in our Ward, the one next to my dad, Elder Gerun is going home on the 30th of November. They are good friends with my family and have helped them a lot with the additions that we are doing on our house. After dinner and the game we went to the movie, The Blind Side and it was a very moving awesome movie! I was so moved and want to someday have that effect in someones life. I'm am so thankful for the opportunity I had to come home for the Thanksgiving season to spend it with my family. There would have been nothing better or more worthwhile for me to do. Hoping that all of your warmest wishes come true...

Day Number One

This is my family. Mom, Dad, Brother, and Me in Vatican City during summer 08. We love to travel! Our family loves doing things together. I miss them so much while I'm out here at school.

I'm the oldest with my younger brother who is basically the worlds best brother. Ever. His birthday is coming up soon and I am in a quandary of what to get him at the moment.

On the topic of Birthdays, today, actually yesterday I guess, was my roommate Larissa's birthday. We wanted to invite some of our friends over, celebrate her day and play some games. I also wanted to create some kind of culinary masterpiece for her cake ...item. So I attempted to make individual Ghiraradelli Chocolate Lava Cakes, with drizzeled chocolate and strawberry fans. They tasted very good but the problem was that we didn't put in enough of the chocolate center so they didn't burst forth as does lava. So my grade for the overall plate was a C+ for presentation, A- for the taste, overall effect B-. I promise next time to have a picture.

And finally, I only have one thing left to say that has actually been common in my study these last few days for my class and that is:

"We encourage you wherever you may live in the world to prepare for adversity by looking to the condition of your finances. We urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchases to avoid debt. . . . If you have paid your debts and have a financial reserve, even though it be small, you and your family will feel more secure and enjoy greater peace in your hearts."—The First Presidency

And finally good luck with all your endeavors whether they be great or small.