What A Friend We Have In Jesus

I love that we got to listen to the Prophet of the Lord speak this last weekend.
What a miracle!
So much of it felt absolutely directed to me and I am still grateful.

The first weekends of April and October make me very very happy.
In fact, I can always hardly wait!
I was so happy that Seth and Katie came to share the last session with me and they were perfectly obedient to my no talking rules! Love them!
Then we headed to Temple Square to document the loveliness that is that block.
I can't believe it's going to be all lit up so soon for Christmastime!


So, wasn't General Conference thrilling?

And A NEW TEMPLE IN ARGENTINA!!!!!!!!!!!
I was so thrilled. I cried and cried in my car.

And Rome! How fun was it to hear everyone's reaction to that!?!

My favorite talk was Elder Cook, President Uchtdorf, Elder Wirthlin, Elder Holland, Elder Bednar, Sister Dalton, President Monson, President Packer, Elder Andersen,
and President Eyring.

I'll have to look at my notes to see if I had other favorites too.
Ok - Elder Ballard, Elder Nelson, Elder Hales, and Elder Oaks.

I love that for 8 hours (really 10 counting RS Conference) we get to listen to wonderfully inspired leaders tell us what Heavenly Father wants us to hear.
And what beautiful, beautiful messages He sent us.

Some of my favorite quotes...
"Hope you know, we had a hard time." Elder Cook

"Faith is not a feeling, it's a decision." Elder Andersen

"No room in the inn was not a singular expression of rejection,
just the first." President Monson

"If only we could glimpse what our Heavenly Father has in store for us in the next life and in this life as well, our hope would become unshakable." Elder Uchtdorf

"I leave you the Lord's promise that you will have the righteous desires of your heart." President Eyring

"Those who refuse to read the Book of Mormon are like spoiled children who refuse to eat a meal lovingly prepared for them." Elder Aidukaitis

"Prelude is not a time for conversation." Elder Oaks

"Hope is one leg of a three legged stool which stabilizes our life regardless of rough or unstable circumstances." Elder Uchtdorf

"We have enormous spiritual reservoirs available to us. Be not afraid -- only believe." Elder Andersen

"The scriptures are written to bring us hope!" Elder Uchtdorf

"Come what may and love it!" Elder Wirthlin

"Darkness, afraid, river, alone." Elder Holland

"The brighter our hope, the greater our faith. The stronger our hope, the purer our charity." Elder Uchtdorf

"Almighty God being my Helper they cannot come here!"
President Packer (quoting Brigham Young)


"Remember the Lord has said He would fight our battles."
Elder Holland

"Meaningful morning prayer proceeds the temporal creation of every day." Elder Bednar

"The next time you're tempted to groan you might laugh instead." Elder Wirthlin

"Let us once and for all establish our residence in Zion and give up our summer residence in Babylon." Elder Christofferson (quoting Elder Maxwell)

"Heavenly Father hears and answers every sincere prayer."
Lots of People

"We would all do well not to speak of [the Savior] as though He were the friend next door. He is the Firstborn of the Father." Bishop McMullin

"Jesus will make everything alright. When Jesus comes I will be able to hear and you will get your legs." Elder Andersen

"Angels are sent as emissaries to convey love. The scriptures are filled with accounts of angels. Seen or unseen they are always near." Elder Holland

"The Holy Ghost is the witness of and the messenger for the Father and the Son." Elder Bednar

"Don't be consumers of vice but guardians of virtue." Sister Dalton

"The Lord will let you feel His appreciation from stepping away from the possibility of sowing the seeds of disunity."
President Eyring

"You be the one to make a stand for right, even if you stand alone." Sister Dalton (quoting President Monson)

"We may hope and be assured that the ending of the book of our lives will be grander than we could have imagined." Elder Uchtdorf

"The dial on the wheel of sorrow eventually points to all of us. Learning to endure is part of our on the job training." Elder Wirthlin

"God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges we face, Nor Will He Ever." Elder Holland

"In the midst of winter we find within us an invincible summer." Elder Uchtdorf

"There must be opposition in all things." Almost Everyone.

"The will to win means almost nothing without the will to prepare." Sister Dalton

"Understand the principle of compensation. While it may not come at a time we desire, the faithful today know that every tear will be returned a hundredfold." Elder Wirthlin

"We must carry on the devoted, committed tradition of the people who built this church." Elder Ballard

"You pile up enough tomorrows and you'll find you've got a lot of empty yesterdays." President Monson

"Each marriage starts with two built in handicaps - two imperfect mortals." Elder Nelson

(Seth was not going over to tell that couple that it was a little inappropriate to snuggle on Temple Square. Although, come on. Inappropriate? He actually had found some edible plants on Temple Square! Don't tell anyone he tested to make sure they were really edible! They were! So many fun plants on Temple Square!)

"In troubled times the Lord has always prepared a safe way ahead." President Packer

"Heavenly Father's great Plan of Happiness allows family relationships to be perpetuated beyond the grave." Elder Nelson

(Aren't Seth and Katie so cute?!?)

"Let us relish life as we live it... Do human beings ever realize life as they live it -- every, every minute?" President Monson

"Make pleasant memories for the future." President Monson

"Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved." President Monson

"Harmony in marriage only comes when one esteems the welfare of the spouse as the highest priority." Elder Nelson

"Then, with emotions in my heart, I closed the door and faced an unknown future." Elder Cook (quoting Bathsheba Smith)

"Sometimes the things that are best for us which bring eternal rewards are most bitter."
Elder Cook (quoting President Harold B. Lee)

"Heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that fits appropriately." Elder Holland

"The Savior, resurrected and glorious, lives and reaches out to us." President Eyring

My take home messages?
Heavenly Father loves His children. He does know we're having a hard time. He wants us to be happy. We must invite Him into our lives so He can be involved in all the details. He has already provided the way for us to have hope. Let's be united, kind and courageous and find our training programs from the scriptures. Let's be reverent when we should be and never forget how much Heavenly Father loves us - especially when things are hard.

I really love Him.

General Conference, New Temples, The Gospel and being with family make me SO HAPPY!

Just Because I'm a Woman

Last Saturday was filled with my favorite women!
And at least one miracle occurred!

My dear, dear friend, Linda Johnson, came to Salt Lake City!

She and 4 of her friends from Seattle came down to Wendover and then took a little roadtrip so they could visit Temple Square!
So So Happy!!! All-Week-Long-Waiting-For-Them-To-Come-Happy!

Linda has been my dear friend since I moved up to Seattle.
She is one of the kindest, sweetest, most faithful and thoughtful people I have ever known.

I miss walking around Green Lake with her!

(Isn't that a phenomenal picture? I took that! It's so watercolory! I love it!!!)

I have lots of angels in my home that remind me of her.


Last Saturday we got together on Temple Square and unfortunately, because of Relief Society Conference, the Conference Center and the RS building were closed. But we spent time looking at the Temple, walking around the gorgeous grounds, touring the Joseph Smith Building where we ate Fried Pickles! (they are so good!),

peeking in the Tabernacle and hearing a pin drop, finding Linda's friend's lost eyeglasses (what an answer to prayer and thank you sister missionaries!), and touring the North Visitor's Center where we walked up into heaven and heard the Christus statue talk to us.


It was absolutely blissful.

I love talking about the Church.
I love thinking about the Gospel and explaining how perfect it is.
I love talking to other people about their beliefs and connecting on common ground.
I love the Gospel.
I love the Church!
I love looking at the statues of Joseph and Hyrum and thinking of all they sacrificed for us.
I love thinking about the blessings that I have in my life because of their lives.

(This pic and the Christus are not ones I took...)

I love looking at the statues of John the Baptist and Peter, James and John and knowing that they really did return to the earth and restore the Priesthood.
I love looking at the Temple.
I loved talking about the Angel Moroni and explaining that Moroni was a man who had a father named Mormon. Mormon reviewed the records kept by all the ancient prophets and gave us the "Readers Digest version" known as the Book of Mormon.
How fantastic!
How perfect!

My happiness didn't end there last Saturday!
It was the Relief Society Meeting!

(Hahaha!
This is my best effort at a pic of Sister Beck, Sister Allred and Sister Dalton!)

Oh that day is so happy for me
(as previously noted in the Sister Beck post).
But this time it was happy too because of all the
friends that came with me!
I think Baley deserves her own post because
she is so incredibly happy!

I mean, how happy is that face?

My friends Katesta, Karen and Charlene also came to
Relief Society Conference.

Karen always "keep[s] it real smooth!" Love her!!!

We had the best seats in the World!
We were like 4 rows from the front!
(Well, from the front section that's all cordoned off for the VIP's.)


So, it was a miracle that Linda Johnson came to Temple Square.
And it was a miracle that we got to be so close at the RS Meeting.
So close that I got to talk to Sister Beck before the meeting and give her her birthday card. :)

Don't you just love favorite people?

Then... I learned a good lesson.
When you go to the parking garage and you're on the BYU Women's Conference Committee maybe don't act like Marilyn Monroe in front of the GINORMOUS fan.


(So fierce.)

Because someone else on the committee is sure to see you.

But Baley is adorable!

(Darn that we're not better in focus!)
Oh well -
everyone got a good laugh at committee meeting last Friday.

Linda Johnson, Temple Square, Baley and Relief Society Conference make me OH SO Happy!

Potential New Boyfriend

Dear October,

I love you. I'm so glad you've come back again.

I love the apples you bring me, the colorful leaves, football games, cider, pumpkins, sweater weather, rain, General Conference and I love



Yes I do. Thank you, October, for bringing me the Count.

Count - you can move in with me anytime. You are so yummy. I love your chocolatey goodness and wonderful sweet marshmellows. I can eat you without milk (since I don't have any right now) and I can eat you any time of day. I know you have friends Boo-berry and Frankenberry, but I like you much better than them. I wish you were available to me all year round- but I found you yesterday at Target and that makes me -- SO Happy! Love, Amy

Calm on the Water

Monday I was disappointed. It's ok. It happens.

But I decided that it's important for me to express my faith before the blessings come.

I mean - I want Heavenly Father to know (if He reads my blog... :)) that I trust Him now. Before a miracle happens.
Not just after I get the blessings.

I believe in miracles. They've happened in my life and in lives of others I know.

So today I made a list of miracles that I can readily bring to memory. I started with scriptural miracles - but quickly moved on to personal miracles and they've just kept coming to memory
all day long.

**Moses parted the Red Sea.
**Moses was found by Pharoh's daughter - of all the women by the river - and what a huge river!
**Crickets and Seagulls.
**Nephi. He built a boat. He shocked his brothers. The Lord made their raw meat sweet. He kept forgiving. Nephi is a miracle.
**Getting UT residency for tuition right in the nick of time.

**Finding $500 after my young woman Ali told me the story of our meeting 15 years ago on a plane when she was 5.
**Calling Carolyn to my presidency before I even had seen her and she was PERFECT.
**Getting a job at the Social Research Institute which paid a huge chunk of my tuition. I saw the flyer for it the day the application was due but I still got the job. Amazing Blessing.
**Becoming friends with the Disneyland Girls.

**Being at the intersection in the right moment to see my young woman need me.
**Being able to go to Europe with Catheryn.

**Meeting Anastasia in Germany.

**Aidan.

{That kid is a genius and I'm not kidding or exaggerating!!
He knows his opposites which we were practicing here while he played my favorite exercise game of up and down (which consists of him riding on my leg while I move his like 20 lb body up and down. I can go about 4 times before my leg dies.)}

**Finding my condo (on craigslist!) And it didn't sell before I bought it. MIRACLE.


**Being called as YW President on the very day I was going to change to the single's ward.

**Being inspired to do the project for Sister Beck.
**The project worked!
**Running into Sister Beck on Temple Square with all the YW.
**Colleen's family waited long enough to have her FUNeral that I could come during my fall break.
**Going to see Luella after Women's Conference 2006, even though she was already a pumpkin, and that was the last time I saw her. If I wouldn't have gone I wouldn't have seen her the whole time I lived in Salt Lake.
**Linda Johnson came to Temple Square. (Pictures soon to come!)
**Getting called to the BYU Women's Conference Planning Committee.
**The Turkeys. Connecting with them initially. Reconnecting with them recently. Totally worth more than $5000. (So glad Cora made it into the pic with us!)

**Working on the Thursday night shift at the Temple. It was perfect. Those were my people.
**Getting my job at Life Care at Home so I could move to Utah.
**Feeling inspired to move to Utah.
**My money that should've run out in January of 2008 has lasted until now (with a little left still).
**Getting my first job at ManorCare.
**Meeting Hilda.

**Making the connection from Hilda to Jan Conger.
**Getting to do Hilda's (and her family's) Temple Work - and the Burnham's were there for it all!
**Being in the Temple with Elder Scott.
**Getting to introduce Sister Kapp and her husband in Seattle at a conference. To the conference participants - not each other. ;)

**Sister Kapp sitting in front of ELJ and me at the concert two weeks ago.
**Visiting teaching assignment that let me be friends with Maria.

**Maria and I deciding not to move to that FANTASTIC apartment because we didn't know I'd be moving here. Then I moved here.
**Sitting by Elder Wirthlin on the plane on the way home from Ricks College.
**They found Catheryn and Steve.

**Seeing Dolly in the park. What a miracle.

**The Blue Notebook.
**The Antipas recipe.
**My mission president and his wife being here for dinner with ELJ, EJR and their husbands.

**Getting to be in the Solemn Assembly session for President Hinckley and President Monson.
**Picking the very right songs for Stake Conference May 2006. Wow.
**Being in the foyer of the Temple so I could see my friend Sister Chris when she visited Seattle.
**Being called to the Argentina Neuquen Mission.

**Totally embarrassing myself on the phone with President Monson - the miracle is I didn't lose my membership in the church after calling him a liar. Ask me sometime.
**Getting to be with President Hinckley in the Salt Lake Temple for a devotional.
**Being friends with ELJ. Of all the people she knows, I get to be one of her friends. (One that gets to sit at her kitchen counter a lot and eat ice cream and one that calls me when I have blind dates to see if I need rescuing and takes me with her to the symphony - oh how I love her.)

**Being friends with EJR. Of all the people she knows, I get to be one of her friends. (one that she shares jokes with and buys dresses for and watches The Golden Girls with and lets read her manuscripts and plays dominoes with even when it's hard - oh how I love her.)

**I was born! Into my family at the very time I needed to be born.

(Come on that is an awesome picture.)

**I was born into a family that embraces and lives the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!

**So many Luella miracles.

**Luella herself was a miracle.

**Thinking to call the American Cancer Society about the job posting and finding out about the other available job.
**Just deciding to send my resume to Caresource even though there were no job openings.
**Passing the Social Work Licensure Exam.

My dad always says, "The Lord loves a coincidence."

I think it's true because you can choose to see His hand in all things or not. He never forces. So I want to be a part of the righteous generation - not seeking a sign like the wicked generation - but seeing the signs of His Love everywhere.

I doubt not the Lord nor His goodness.
I've proved Him in days that are past.

So while waiting, I will not doubt. I will be patient. I will be hopeful and I will live my belief that if I have to wait until eternity for some blessings, the blessing of the Atonement is enough until then. More than enough. And the amazing thing is - that's not the only blessing He has given me. See above list for proof.

What miracles are you most grateful for?

Past, Present and the Promise of Future Blessings make me,
So Happy.