The Best 4th of July Ev.Er

Ok -- even though this was so long ago, it was SUCH a happy day!

First -- An Apron and Breakfast and Serious Patriotism. So fantastic. I loved every second.

Then, the cemetery, slurpees, Jamba Juice, the Pie and a bbq. It was a lot of food.

mmmmmmMMMMMMmmmmMMMMM

And THEN! -- Yep...

The Jonas Brothers.

Can't you tell that's what you're looking at?

Stadium of Fire was AWESOME!

It was so last minute -- and a super fun decision!

We were at THE. TOP. of the stadium -- I was occasionally afraid that the jets would hit us or that the fireworks would fall on us (which kind-of did happen - the fireworks not the jet).

We found out what it was like to be 12 again -- we were completely surrounded by screaming girls. We joined right in -even learning some of the words to songs we had never heard- don't worry. So much fun!

This 4th of July made me SO Happy!

Oh My Long Time Bez Posts!

I have so many happy things to catch up on! It's been almost 6 months since I've posted anything and a TON of stuff has happened! I don't know if I should work backwards or start from the beginning... maybe just right in the middle? One happy thing is that I got a new macbook! Love it. Ok -- to the happiness. Maybe I'll do a little preview and then break it down in separate posts. Good idea.

July --

The best trip to Provo Ev.Er.

The best 4th of July Ev.Er.

The best trip to Wyoming Ev.Er.

The best trip to Chicago Ev.Er.

The fastest (and best) trip home Ev.Er.

The best Park City family vacation Ev.Er!

August --

The BEST birthday EV.ER (and I am so not kidding!!)

The best trip to Disneyland Ev.Er!

A really super fun surprise party!

My Favorite Birthday Dinner Ev.Er! (The actual party instead of the week before like someone thought for the surprise party! :))

September --

The best new/old mattress/bed Ev.Er.

And my first try at Second Day Hair. (Be glad there's no picture.)

A very lovely dinner!

October --

The best Black Hills Bacon for General Conference Ev.Er.

The best trip to California for the best first birthday Ev.Er!

The cutest African "Chicken" costume Ev.Er.

Ok -- there was more stuff... But that's a good run down! More details soon! Stay tuned! :)

Let's just say, these last few months I have been So Happy!

Your Mom's Face

Yesterday was such a good Saturday!

Can you believe it started with exercise?? Amazing. I never would've gotten out of bed if Carolyn hadn't called and had the discipline to go to the gym early on a Saturday morning when we had been dancing the night away late the night before! I was glad I did it though! Because then I ate like a mad-woman the rest of the day! YUM!

First up... Blue Plate Diner.

This obviously wasn't taken yesterday - or by me at all. Just rain - no snow.

The S.M.A Omelet (spinach, mushroom, and.) Good Food. Good Environment. Great Friends.

And RAIN! It felt so much like Seattle yesterday -- I loved every second. I loved that my hair was all flat and I loved the thunder and the comfort that somehow comes with the rain. So cozy.

Next... Mini's!


We headed straight over and had 85 conversations at once about the city, okra, your mom's face and creamy mashed potatoes.

I love Mini's. And so do Carolyn and Casey. Yum Peanut Butter Fix!


I am a certified Springer. As you can see. Although my brother can fit two hot dogs WITH bun in his mouth at once. Or a can of Coke. Serious.


I had a s'mores please cupcake and got a diva cupcake for my later meal... and Nalene enjoyed Twisted Sister. The cupcake - not the group. Well, maybe the group. Just not yesterday.

I was the only one to make an enormous mess. Oh well.

Last "official" meal of the day -- Thaifoon! Yum again!!! It was Amy's Birthday so we celebrated with some Thai food and great conversation. Carolyn was the Evil Jungle Princess or maybe the Princess of Celestial. And Amy painted her nails at the table. It was awesome.

How lucky am I to have such amazing friends???? The conversation was worth every calorie.

And crumb. Awesome, Andrea!

Round it all off with a review and share of ALL of my mission pics -- how could it get better?

Nothing makes me happy like friends and food! So Happy.

I Left My Heart In San... Diego

Well, today I was supposed to be in California, going to Disneyland and visiting my favorite Burnhams!

Last October I was in California to help my Grandma move back to Illinois.
After everything got finished up, I stayed an extra day and went down to San Diego to see my dear friends,

Elder and Sister Burnham.

Aren't they wonderful??

Oh I love them so so much!


We became friends when we were all working in the Seattle Temple.
It is such a blessing to know them! Since they're from Canada, I probably never would've known them without the Gospel!

Aren't there so many fantastic blessings from the Gospel??

One of my favorite-EVER road trips was with Sister Burnham. We had so much fun singing and talking all the way to and from Vancouver, Canada. Home was by way of closer-to-Vernon than we planned. It was wonderful. We didn't get to sleep until after midnight and had to be up at 4:00 a.m. to get Sister Burnham to the airport! When I knocked on her bedroom door to wake her up, she sat right up and was ready to go in 11 minutes flat! I mean dressed, ready, packed and she even had made my bed. Come on. She is so incredible. More energy and heart than anyone I know.


Now they're serving as missionaries in the San Diego Mission -- at the Mormon Battalion Visitor's Center -- but since the Visitor's Center is closed they are finding lots of other ways to serve.

And they are wonderful!

They get to spend time at the Temple each week - working inside and out.
When people come to the Temple, they ask questions and can learn more about our beliefs by talking to the Burnhams and other missionaries like them.

I love this picture of Sister Burnham teaching. She is an excellent teacher and such a love. Definitely one of the women I admire most in all the world. Y ella esta aprendiendo espanol y lo puede hablar muy bien! And she is learning Spanish and can speak it very well!

I enjoyed taking pictures of the Temple that day and the surrounding grounds.
We saw a HUGE spider climbing down its filament from a tree. It kept climbing up and down and it was yucky! Sister Burnham thought perhaps it had filled the measure of its creation - but I don't think we killed it.
So... Spider alert -- there's a spider at the end of this post. Don't turn the page... Please, Please don't turn the page...

(It's the very very last picture.)

Elder Burnham is an excellent photographer and has taken such fantastic pictures of the Temple and the beauty of San Diego. He is one of my favorite men in the world. I love talking to him about - well everything - and especially the Gospel. He is such a straight arrow and has a deep and firm understanding of the Gospel and a tender heart. I remember neat conversations in the Temple with him -- especially when The Lord of the Rings movies came out because he loves Gospel Parallels just like me!

Did I mention how much I love the Burnhams???

They were involved with helping me finish all the Temple work for Hilda.
I am so glad they were there with me. That was one of the neatest experiences of my entire life.
They really cared about her because they knew I loved her so much.
That made me love them even more!

Doesn't that look like the Tree of Life?

Gorgeous windows of the Temple

I so wish I could've been with them this weekend.
Last time I was with them was right before the vote on Proposition 8.
I was so grateful I got to see them "in action" helping people understand some really important doctrine. They have always been representatives of Jesus Christ, but right now they get to wear a name badge that tells the world so.
I am so grateful to know them and hope someday I can be like them.

My dear sweet friends have for years, made me So Happy!
The spider picture's next! Don't turn that page!

Oh My So Happy

So I just got a call from Sister Beck's secretary saying thank you for a note I wrote to her - Sister Beck - because she's so busy she can't respond personally but wanted me to know how much she appreciated it. How super nice is that????

She is seriously the greatest.

How cool is it that she put me on her to-do list and thought to say thank you??
I mean - come on. She is the greatest.

And have you listened to her Women's Conference talk yet??? Because you so should.

Who's surprised.... Sister Beck makes me So Happy!!!

Sees Makes It Better

Carolyn may kill me, but this night was too happy to not share.

We needed a movie break so we headed to dinner first at Citris Grill.
YUM!

We were hungry though so before the salad and soup came we ate...

DESSERT!

Carolyn had gotten a box of Sees Candy from work and we dove right in.

Carolyn was surprised (as was I truthfully) that I knew what was inside a good percentage of the chocolates in the box.

Carolyn cut them into quarters and we ate and ate and ate! YUM!
Then we ate a great dinner and drove up and down Highland Drive.
No we weren't cruising. Just looking for pajamas.

Carolyn and Chocolate make me So Happy!

A Lovely Evening

Last Monday it was my turn to host The Lovelies.
And my are they lovely!
We had such a lovely time! (If the hostess does say so herself!)

I mean, are we cute or what? We even were color coordinated and it wasn't even planned!
left to right - Amy, Lori, Julie, Elaine, Carolyn, Danielle.
We really missed Sister Kapp, Carol and Loe.
Doesn't it kind-a look like Lori's squeezing my fat roll?
She was a little. Wait - don't look at my fat rolls.

We had crispy bread with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese,
spicy honey chicken with honey citrus vinaigrette from Our Best Bites Blog
and broiled pineapple with coconut ice cream and chocolate corks that ELJ made.
So YUMMY!!!

The dressing wasn't my very favorite - but it was good enough.
I added red peppers to the salad and it was yummy and a little more colorful!

Since it is the beginning of summer I thought it would be fun to give everyone a "Jar Of Discovery!" This was my favorite gift of all time from the Second Saturday Girls in Seattle. If you look at the table in the above picture you can see the jars - they served as our centerpiece too.

Each jar is filled with ideas for activities that might help you discover things about yourself, as well as making you get out of your comfort zone a little.
There are rules to the jar.
Rule #1 - You can only remove one idea at a time.
Rule #2 - Once you take out an idea, you can't put it back.
Rule #3 - You can't pick another idea until you've completed the one you just pulled out.
Rule #4 - If you can't complete an idea, you have to get approval from the group to move on.

Fun huh?

The conversation was better than the food.
I love those girls so much!

I was super lucky because my wonderful friend Amanda and her cutie-pie Nathan came to visit for the day from Wisconsin!
I never could have made it by 6:30 without all her chopping and cooking expertise!

ELJ came over at 6:00 and helped finish all the chopping and cooking and I needed her too! She was a whiz with the pineapple -- I could barely live a day without her and I certainly can't throw a party without her -- EVER!

It was so fun to have Amanda and Nathan here -- he is the happiest baby I have ever been around in all my life! I loved getting all caught up with Amanda and it was amazing to both of us that no matter how much time passes, we're friends like always. Isn't that a miracle?

My Lovely Friends make me So Happy!

Ongoing General Conference Happiness

Ok - this is so up my alley. Cute Stephanie over at Diapers and Divinity is running a General Conference Book Club! How smart is that??!! Every week she picks a different talk and then you can read it and comment and it's great. So, I got carried away today and thought I'd just share my thoughts on my own blog about Sister Lifferth's talk.

I love this talk and I love Sister Lifferth! Besides being incredibly intelligent, articulate and spiritual she has the cutest clothes ever! She was adorable each day of Women's Conference! Love her!

I swear, I highlighted half the talk! I love that she talks about being reverent with each other. Don't you think sometimes we just get all bumped and bruised because we forget who we're dealing with and we don't make a "reverent place in our hearts" for the other sons and daughters of God we meet everyday?

She gave such good examples of how to determine that for ourselves with real everyday applications or possibly irreverent times. I super love her line - Harshness in our training begets resentment, not reverence. So true!!! Remember how Sister Beck (at BYU Women's Conference) quoted Joseph F. Smith (I think) and said that while we cannot force our children to heaven, we may force them to hell while we try and make them better but are not as good as we should be ourselves! Man, I love her. (Check out the link to her talk - you can totally hear me laughing in the background! I love it!!! Besides loving every second of her entire talk, of course!!!!!)

And how excellent for Sister Lifferth to show that the real reason for reverence is at it's core - self-discipline. I am so going to try and be more reverent. I laugh outloud in church sometimes and have even been known to chuckle in the Temple. I'm pretty good about the cell phone in church but profound respect mingled with love is not always my first thought. And that is respect and love for God and our fellow man. Being reverent helps us follow the first and most important commandment! I love it.

Another thought I love -- creating a place of reverence in our hearts. Isn't that a fabulous idea? That is something I can do. And I can go to that place and be reminded of it in times that require reverence and then maybe someday I can just BE that person. That's my goal.

OK - I'm a huge general conference nerd. Who's surprised - come on.

Last thought - (like in testimony meeting - I know the time is short, but...) Isn't it great that President Packer promises not a miraculous transformation but a quiet one. How appropriate is that??? I certainly could use those blessings - so I will try to live the law connected to those blessings -- Reverence. Great talk. Aren't we blessed???

Seriously - General Conference and this new awesome book club I found make me So Happy!