Quick to forget

So Sunday night slash Monday morning brought me a little bit of trials. You'd think having just listened to President Uchtdorf's talk on Saturday, I'd be in great shape to take on the week, but apparently Satan knows me pretty well and he snuck right it. I kept trying to tell myself that it was fine and that I was blowing things out of proportion, but since when do I ever listen to me? So what did I do? I went to the two people I always go to for advice (besides my mom) Laura and Dana. They were, as always, very helpful, loving and supportive.
I listened to Elder Uchtdorf's talk two more times and when I got home from running errands after work I went for a run. It's amazing what a little spirituality and some running can do for the body and soul. :) I felt much better and I think I can take on the world, at least for one more day.
How silly I am to know so much, but to be so quick to forget when problems come and seem to consume everything. I think the two things from President Uchtdorf's talk that helped me most were, forget not to be patient with yourself and forget no that God loves you. Hopefully my memory lasts a little bit longer. :)

I recommend to everyone, male and female, to watch or listen to Elder Uchtdorf's talk. Reading works to but I think it has a little something extra coming directly from his mouth.
Watch it here.

September

First of all, I just want everyone to know, I love September. It's the best month. Harvesting starts, the weather isn't so hot, but it's not super cold, the trees are starting to change, and there's just something in the air. It's just great. If it could be September 10 months out of the year I'd be perfectly happy with that.
With my September I've been pretty busy. The first weekend in September was the big camping trip for Labor Day. The second weekend my cousin James had his "mission farewell" so we (my 2 cousins and I) headed up to Ogden area for that. My brother, sister, and cousin from the other side of the family also attended and we had a lovely time. Kevin and Marc enjoyed playing on the toys at the park by the church.


Last weekend I headed back to Idaho again for family pictures. Every September or October brings the traditional family pictures that we've had taken every year by the same people. We've got it down. We know all the saying "mom made me do this" "the photographers a geek" "dad has smelly feet" "fuzzy pickles" and on and on. We whipped through it this year as we do most years. Previous to the pictures was dad's big 100 mile AMA bike challenge. If you would like to read of his experience you can check it out here
We had a great time following him around and cheering and were so proud when he finished and didn't die! He even came in first place! Way to go dad! This was Julie and I waiting to cheer for dad as he rode by.

This weekend started with the BYU vs. UCF game. My friend Ryan had an extra ticket so I went with him and his mom and learned the ins and outs of BYU football. GO COUGARS!

Saturday morning I got up early than I wanted and headed out for my 9 mile run. It wasn't as awful as I was expecting but I was definitely tired for the rest of the day. I did make it to pick peaches which was awesome! Along with my love of fall and September in particular comes a love for picking things. Fruits and vegetables, I love to pick it. I say it makes me feel very Anne of Green Gables. I just love it. I was pretty much in heaven yesterday as I climbed the ladder and later the tree to pick those peaches.


After the peaches I headed back to Orem to meet up with my friend Pam to go the Relief Society Meeting Broadcast at the conference center. She had gotten tickets at the last minute and had an extra one for me. I can say with confidence that this is the best Relief Society Broadcast I've ever been to. I've always loved Elder Uchtdorf and he always gives amazing talks but this one really just blew me away. It was so good. Have you ever heard something and it's exactly what you needed to hear and you didn't even know you were anywhere close to needing to hear it? That's what happened to me. It was so amazing. I encourage everyone to go and listen to or read the talk. AMAZING.

And today. I went to my new ward with my roommate Carrie. I think it's going to be a good one. Afterward I came home and finished getting things ready for my dinner with my cousins. It's fun having family close and doing things with them. We had a great chat and dinner was good and I just feel so blessed to have so many good things in my life. Life is good.

Epic camping

I've been a bit slow on getting this one up but it's definitely noteworthy. Last weekend for labor day my family made room in our various schedules to go camping. I LOVE CAMPING! And camping with my family is especially fun.
It was a bit confusing in the weeks before deciding when we were actually going and where we would go, but on Friday the decision was made. A different place every night. Not my mom's favorite choice but workable.
Friday afternoon my mom, dad and brother David headed up to Wright Creek right next to Green Canyon for those Idaho people who know where that is. They got everything set up and then Julie, Kevin and I went up later. I didn't get in til late since I was driving from Utah, Julie had to work as did Kevin. We opted for the pop-up camper so we were all sleeping in the same place. Luckily I had ear plugs. No one snores like my dad. Except for maybe Katie from my Guatemala trip. :)
Saturday morning we were up and at 'em, with some delicious pancakes for breakfast.

Julie and Kevin headed off on the 4-wheeler to set up some picnic for Kevin's friend and Dad, David and I headed up to Antenna Ridge to check out our next camp site. It was a beautiful drive. We even found some snow and David built a tiny snowman. Coming back down we decided that it was quite the drive to come up for one night and decided we should just go to our third camp site and stay for 2 nights. What a great plan.



We got back to camp and ate lunch and then David and I headed out to pick choke-cherries for my mom. What is a choke-cherry you may ask? It's a tiny berry that doesn't really taste very good, but when large amounts of sugar are added it makes an excellent syrup that my mom loves. After we picked for a while we headed back only to be told that dad had discovered the mother load and that we were to follow him and pick some more. And pick we did. There were SO many. We finally had to stop when we ran out of bags to fill. We then went back to camp and finished packing everything up and headed to our final camp site, Packsaddle Lake.
We went camping here when I was about 6. This was a memorable trip, as my brother David fell hands first into the campfire and had to be rushed out (30 mph) on the ridiculous road that led out to the hospital to have his burns treated. He spent the rest of the trip with socks on his hands. Luckily there were no such incidents this time.

Saturday night did prove a bit tricky since Kevin had had to go into work and was coming up later and didn't know exactly how to get there. We sent directions as we went but when the time for him to come actually arrived we discovered that he directions weren't as good as we thought. Luckily my phone got some reception and after some discussion and my dad driving out to find him we were successful. David, Julie and I had walked down to the fork in the road to put out a glow stick to indicate the right direction and came back scared out of our minds singing every ridiculous song our mother had ever taught us.
Sunday was peaceful (don't judge). We had our delightful breakfast and then we sat down for our Sunday School lesson provided by dad. It was on service and charity and I felt it was a great success. We followed up our discussion with a talk from the conference Ensign and then some reading from the Book of Mormon. Then we were off to the lake. Mom opted not to go since she still had very vivid memories of the last trip here and trying to climb up the trail with 4 small children. As I climbed back up to return to camp I felt sorry for my mom and my poor six year old self.
Sunday night was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. We were all sitting around the fire after roasting our hot dogs and marshmallows and dad suggested that we play Charades. It was a bit difficult until someone suggested that the person who was just it give the next person their topic. By far my favorite one was when I gave Kevin Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. He did an excellent job. Click here to watch the scene he acted out.
Monday was pretty uneventful. We ate breakfast and then packed everything up and came home. I took a nap and then headed back to Utah. All in all it was a fantastic trip and I think the only thing that could have made it better is if it had lasted longer and the Walker's had been there. LOVE CAMPING!