I sort of moved.

Well as you can tell I don't do a good job at keeping up this blog. :-( But so far I am doing a good job at keeping up my new blog. It is over here. So all you family members. If you have been wondering what I have been up to just go on over.

Love,

Me

Well world, the semester is almost over. Onto the loveliness (and warmth) of summer So what am I doing this summer. Well, I am going to try to decorate my lovely little apartment, take an online class, enjoy the weather and the ocean, have visitors and write a story. Now I just need to pick one to focus on. Decisions Decisions.

Parts of my new home remind me of Australia. Maybe its just the twisted old tree I can see outside my living room window.

Exciting!

Everyone needs some excitement in their life. I think that it should be an almost daily thing. It doesn't have to be a big thing it just has to be a "OH YEA!" thing.

These are 10 things that I get excited over. They aren't in any order and some aren't even my top 10.

1. A sugary treat (lemon bars, cupcakes, Daddy N's pumpkin pie, Mum's molasses cookies)
2. A LDS based conference of sorts (General Conference, Women Conference, EFY)
3. Anything that my sister or mom makes
4. Trips (especially when they involve family, the ocean, a new place, a familair place I haven't been to in a while or a foreign country)
5. Eating out
6. Hugs from Super S
7. Seeing little people (anyone under the age of 8, which makes shopping at a busy time great)
8. When Brett comes home from work (I even did this when we were just friends)
9. Christmas
10. Changes in the weather (it changes my wardrobe options)

Whats great is that today will probably include four of those things. I just have to plan it so that I visit my sister when she is cooking. :)

Going to the Temple and We're Going to Get Married

We did it!

On the 20th of July Brett and I were sealed for time and ETERNITY in the beautiful Manti temple. It was a bit of a drive but well worth it. We were also blessed that so many loved ones were able to make it.

Here are some pictures celebrating the day. They were taken by the talented Mindy Kidd.

Loved

The last few days have been sort of crummy. Actually January was sort of a bu....um, that's a bad word to my Australian family...... Well just say it wasn't full of sunshine. Just some frustrating things. This week was much better though. It is because of the little things. For example,

My sister posted a funny picture of my nephew on her blog. It made me laugh.

While cleaning I came across a list of talents I posses that I had started that my TX Dad finished. I had written it so I would work on developing those talents but because he added to it it made me feel appreciated as a person and like I have something to offer.

I got a fun package from my Mom.

My AZ Dad sent me beautiful flowers

My parents in TX bought chickens. I know I'm not there now but knowing that they will be there when I get home makes me happy because I use to be a farm girl and in all honesty I miss it.

I was accepted as an EFY counselor. My cousin Kort says she is going to live vicariously through me. She is getting married so she can't be a counselor this year. I give her regular updates.

Yesterday I watched a ladies kids for her so she could go out. Her day had been crummy (sick kids, 5 hours at the doctors office.) but she said it was better because I was here now. She also said that I was going to be a great mom. Any compliment with the word mom in it is my favorite.

I got to talk to my mom on the phone today. She told me a funny story about my nephew who sure loves his dad.

As I walked home from work today it was snowing so I decided to eat the snowflakes. A guy in his fifties crossed the street to come say hi to me. He that I was the coolest person ever for eating snowflakes. We were walking the same way so he talked to me for a bit. He is from TX too. Since he is from Texas it is not abnormal to talk to a complete stranger as Texans are very friendly people. Before he left to go his way he told me that I have a special light and that Utah doesn't know it yet but they are lucky to have me.

Now THAT made my day. It was 't just that the guy took the time to cross the street to come say hi or that he ave me some really good complements. It is that Heavenly Father prompted him to give me those compliments. I needed them and I needed them then and that guy was in tune enough to listen. It was a tender mercy. All of those things are tender mercies that Heavenly Father set up for me. It is so nice of him and lets me know that he really does love me.

Provo

Hello!
In case your wondering what I have been up to here you go.
I have been loving Provo. My apartment is full of cool girls. They are Eden, Andrea, Rozanne, Ashlee, and Julia. In true Y form Rosanne is engaged as of Monday. My apartment complex is full of fun people which means my ward is full of fun people. If you ever need anything around here you will find people that are willing to help. That goes to almost every hour of the day to because very few people seem to sleep around here.
Apart from the great new people I hang out with I have gotten to spend time with my family. I see Grandma and Grandpa at least once a week. They even let me do laundry at there house. This is great because I would much rather visit with them then a stranger in laundry mat. I also see Amber, David and Brody at least once a week. Brody is almost twice the size he was at birth. Provo is the place for visitors. My TX parents have both been up along with lots of other family members.
At the moment I am working for a preschool/ day care center. It is a good job and normally a fun one. We play games color and snack. Of course my kids have days when I am very glad I don't have to take them home with me. They give me hugs though so it makes up for there bad moments. All in all it's a good job and I am getting lots of practice.
Sorry that there are no pictures I will take some after cleaning checks this weekend.

Monday at EFY

All this summer I have been being an EFY counselor. It has been a fantastic experience. I have learned so much. I loved going to EFY as a participant. I started looking forward to next year the day that is ended. Being an EFY counselor has been 1000 times better. I grew spiritual and learned valuable lesson. Those lessons came not only from my fellow counselors, BCs, coordinators, teacher, directors and their spouses but also from the youth themselves. I was also better able to learn from the spirit.

So what do we do at EFY an why do we do it? Here are some photos, thoughts and explanations. Some of my explanations are the reasons that made sense to me others are what they told us. There are also random thoughts I thought I would throw in. Lets start with Monday.

MONDAY
Check-In
This is when the youth say "I'm here. Um, now what do I do" It is intersting to see how nervous some are. Thats ok though becasue we give them things for braving it. The things are a handbook (this thing is actually cool. It doubles as a journal, hymn book, agenda and study guide), a lanyard, nametag, cd, dvd and shirt.

Meet Your Counselor
After they spend sometime practicing patients we divide them into groups. Normally each councelor has about 10 youth. Here we do a get to know you game (Mine involved starbursts), out line the rules, set personal goals and I gather up the information I need. In my case this came to involve taking pictures so I could write down there names and study who they are. These are some of the pictures I took for that reason. Aren't my girls lovely.

Meet Your Company
This is when my girls meet the other counselor groups in our company. There is always at least one boy counselor and one girl counselor. Here we do more get to know you games, make a short cheer, tell the kids what our company name is and from what scripture it was taken.
Orientation
Here we gather as an entire EFY session. It is when the youth first meet the session director and are told about things like the BIG FIVE. The BIG FIVE are the rules that when broken the youth will be sent home with out question. This is also when the counselors perform the legendary EFY dances.
Dinner
If you want to eat first on Monday you had better hope your counselor can dance because that is how they decided who gets to go next. This dance competition is held in front of the entire youth so hopefully your not to self conscience. If you're a counselor you probably aren't.
Session Director Lesson
This is basically the spiritual part of family night. The lesson is taught by the session director to the entire session
FHE Games
I like these games allot. These are played in a company. One of my favorite games was Anteater. In this game 3 or 4 youth are pulled from the company. They are the "Anteaters". Their job it to tag the other youth or the "ants". The other youth start at one end of the field and try to get to their "ant hill" at the other end of the field. Once the game starts the only safe side of the field is the ant hill. If the ants are tagged as they try to get to the ant hill they must lay on their backs with their feet in the air.

Then the other ants try to rescue them. It take 4 ants to rescue a fallen ant. The 4 rescue ants must carry them back. While an ant is attached to a fallen ant they are safe unless their are more then 4 ants attached. In order to win all the ants must make it back to the hill. It is a fun game.

After they play the game for awhile we sit down and ask them what they have learned. They come out with all sorts of things. Then we have them find examples of what they learned in the scriptures. As counselors it is our job to direct them. One question I would ask is it was more fun to sit in the ant hill and watch or was it more fun to go save the ant. They always say it is more fun to save the ants. When they do I turn them to D&C 18:15-16
"15. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in
crying repentance unto this people and bring save it be
one soul unto me how great shall be your joy with him
in the kingdom of my Father!
16. And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that
you have brought unto me into the kingdom of Father,
how great will be your joy if you should bring many
souls unto me!"
After that I asked them how they could apply it in their lives. So I will ask you too.
How can you apply that lesson in your life?
After they think about we move onto the next game and do the same for it.
Goal Setting
Goals are important things to have. They help you get the most out of life. Because we want our youth to get the most out of EFY we have them set personal goals. We also set company goals. That we do during this time. There are four areas the the youth set goals in. They are physical, mental, social and spiritual. We as counselors are not to set the goals. We collect there thoughts and compile them into to one goal that seems to cover what they hope to achieve. Then the youth agree with it or not. Through out the week we review these goals.
Counselor Devotional
After we do goal setting we break off into counselor groups. Mondays devotional is on recognizing the promptings of the spirit. I think this one is important to have on Monday because the youth will have many opportunities to feel the spirt and be prompted by it. We want them to realize where those feeling and promptings come from so we teach them.
Personal Scripture Study/Journal Time
It is rather selfexplainitory. We have it though so the youth can learn the good habbit. Why is writting in your journal important. It helps you remember the feelings you have and put them into words. Then later when you read them again you can feel the same feelings you had. This is important becasue we want the youth to take home what they have learned and felt at EFY.

Prayer Meeting

This is with the session. It is when a few of the youth share something they liked about the day and then we have our clossing prayer. Then the youth go home

So...What do we do when the children go home?

EFC!!!

This is when we share some of the things we liked about our day, ask questions and get insturciton. It is also where we are aloud to give hugs.

A Roof Over My Head

For the last four weeks I have been volunteering as an EFY counselor throughout Utah. I have loved it. But that's not what this post is about.
Being me, I didn't realize until the day before I left for Utah that EFY does not give volunteer counselors a place to stay. GULP. I was stressed but a little voice inside my head said Go ahead and get on the plane. It will be taken care of. So off I went. I had no clue where I was going to stay and the people I had called to see if they knew someone who would let me stay with them had no idea either. Finally I got a call form my wonderful Dad N.. My cousin Bre had been going to School in Logan and I could stay with her. That was a major blessing. Three weeks down two more to go. Of course, after Logan is all taken care of I get an e-mail asking if anyone needs a place to stay while in Logan for EFY. Nope but what about Sandy. So I called the session coordinator and she said they would find me a place to stay Sunday night. Sunday night comes around and I still don't know where I'm sleeping that night. What if no one takes me? I can't afford a hotel for two weeks. Ahh. Not until the very end did someone say they cold take me. That week I also found a girl who would take me for the week after.
Why am I telling you this? Because there is a principle. I did not know how things would work out. I only knew that ths was what I should be doing. I also had to put forth the faith that Heavenly Father would take care of me before it was evident how he had planned for that to be accomplished. My help also came from others.
Just like in life we have to put forth faith before we can understand. Sometimes when we are told to do something it seems like help is not going to come but it does and most often trough other people.
I am thankful for being taught this principle.

Utah

I have always wanted to live in Utah. Now I get to. But lately Utah seems even better then it I thought it would be. Want to know why? Hope so because I want to tell you.
Craft stores
Yummy places to eat
BYU sports (FOOTBALL!!!)
My grandparents are here.
My cousin Emily from Australia is going to school in Utah
Church related things are EVERYWHERE
My sister, her husband and their soon to be here baby boy are moving here in a week.
My Cousins Tressa and Mindy are here (maybe they will let me babysit some time).
I have lots of aunts, uncles and cousins here. Some very close by and others just a few hours away. (I haven't lived so close to family since I was in kindergarten)
My Aunt Kim and Uncle Roger from Australia are coming in October and I will be here for it. (I think we ought to go to General conference together since they will be here for it)

I could go on but I will leave it at that. I am so happy and excited and being all of those things makes me thankful too.

Make Up Your Mind

At the moment I am in Provo. I have also decided that that is where I am going to stay for a bit. At least the fall semester. Yes, I was planning to go to Tucson for the fall but that changed so now I am going to stay here. I think I found an apartment that I like. I went to visit it today and it seemed nice. It also has a pool and a game room. I don't know who any of my roommates will be but in the same apartments I have a friend from Tucson so if my roommates are horrible then I will hide there. Or I could hide at my Grandma and Grandpa L's place because it is only a block or so away. The ward is rumored to be great but I think most people would say that about there ward. My hopeful apartment is also right by campus so while I am not a student there I will still be able to enjoy most of the fun things that BYU has to offer. Now all I need is a job and a way to get my stuff in TX here.

EFC

My first session as a volunteer EFY counselor was amazing beyond description. I am so thankful that I get to do this. Every thing was awesome. And I got what I prayed for, patience. I didn't mean to pray for opportunities for it I just prayed that I would have it. I guess some of my kids were sent there so I would know I was being helped with it. Despite that I still love those kids. They have bright testimonies and great potentials. The reason I can see that and love them is because I wasn't just loving them for me. I was loving them for Heavenly Father. I love them because he loves them.

So, what is EFC? It's what happens after an area session of EFY when the kids go home. Especially for counselors was very fun. We got to say the things we enjoyed that day, eat, cram to many people in a car, and flirt because the kids aren't there to see. There are rewards to being a volunteer. Regretably I forgot to bring my camera cord so I cant add my pictures just yet. I'll tell you when I do.

EFY

Tommorrow I leave for Utah and on Monday I have my first EFY session. Provided I actually find a place to sleep durring the week. We shall see. Wish me luck.

There is no Arizona

Well that would be sad because their are allot of people I like in that state. Like my soon to be roommate Stacie.

Yep, I am moving back to Az at the end of July. I am so excited. I have never lived without family before so it will be a different sort of adventure. A more grown up and responsible adventure. I have been pinching pennies in preparation for this. I haven't pinched them this much in years. I am so happy. I have been dreaming of roommates since I was a kid. Of course I am a little nervous. I have never had roommates before. Stacie is wonderful so I know it will work out. She went to the trouble of finding us an apartment and roommates. She even made sure the apartment met my only requirement. That it be in a particular ward. In true fashion to the way my life works out that requirement won't matter by the time I get there because they are probably changing the ward boundaries. Oh well, even more new people can't be to bad.
We have two other roommates, Kristi and Mia. They are sisters. I don't know htem very well but I got to know their older sister when I was there and she is awesome. Kristi is the oldest of us all. I met her once and she seemed nice. I have it on good authority that she is. Mia is the youngest of us all. I haven't meet her but Stacie says she is nice too. Supposedly she doesn't have a bubble which is good because me and Stacie don't either. I am also told that she has lots of energy all the time. This will probably lead to lots of crazy roommate nights but hopefully Kristi will remind us of our neighbors before they remind our landlord of the noise policy. Actually I don't even know if there is one. I guess I'll find out.

Comfort Food

These are some of my comfort foods
Gingersnaps
Ice cream
Hot chocolate
Moms spaghetti that she makes with the curly noodles
Chocolate banana milk shakes
French fries
Frosties
Grandpa L's favorite cereal
Oranges
Grape fruit
Peaches
Anything that reminds me of Australia
Brown sugar

What are some of your comfort foods

Slacker

So, I was supposed to blog about my conference trip. I know it is a little late but here goes.

IT WAS WONDERFUL!!!! I had a blast. I got to see my amazing grandparents, awesome cousins, my great sister and brother-in-law along with 2 of my best friends. I am so spoiled sometimes.
So what did I do with all these fun people in one of my favorite places in the world? We bowled, ate at the creamery (aw grapes, now I'm hungry. oh well, I'll be there soon enough), walked around BYU, got a few jamba juices, avoided the scrapbook stores (I didn't want to break my little bank), ate yummy food that Grandma made, played games, studied (WOW! Stacie is a super good influence. Oh, for those of you that didn't know she is the friend that drove up with David, Amber (and Sweat Pea), and Kourtney), watched General Conference and went to General Conference. Apart from that we talked and talked and talked.
I love my family. I am so privileged to be related to the wonderful people that I am. I learn so much from their examples and am lifted up from their spirits.

Some things that made the trip special.

-The trip down memory lane to when we would watch General Conference

in the tiny play room at Grandma and Grandpa's Mesa house.

-Getting to have scripture study with Grandma and Grandpa. They know

so much

-Going to General Conference as an extended family. It is always a special

experience to hear the prophets voice, especially when you can see him in

person. It is even better when you are surrounded by your family.

-Taking the picture of all of us cousins in front of the temple. It was a

reminder that my relationship with them gets to continue on for eternity.

TV

I had planned on posting tonight but E, S and my Dad are having a sleepover. They are using the computer as a tv because our tv has decided to go to electronic heaven. I suppose if there was an electronic heaven that our tv would go there because only clean things are shown on it. This is due to my parents teaching us high standards about what we watch. Thanks parents.

Going Home

This weekend was a blast. Today I fly back to Texas and to my family. I am happy to go see them but I am also sad to leave all the wonderful people that are here (or just left). On the bright side I will be back up here at the end of May. Yea!
So do you want to know all the fun things I did? To bad. You have to wait until I get home, sort through my General conference notes and get my pictures from cousins. Hopefully that will be soon.

A little up date.

Monday- I started my Lion oil painting. It is coming along ok. After work I made a lemon cake. I am told it tasted very, very good.
Tuesday- I made a friend chocolate covered strawberries. I can't eat them but I wanted to make them.
Today- I completely spaced that it was Wednesday and went to class very late. Ops.
Tomorrow- Early in the morning I am off to the airport. I get to go to Utah to see my Loveland family and go to General Conference. I am so excited.
Friday- have fun with family
Saturday-General Conference and the traditional between sessions pizza. I think we girl cousin should have a mini girls night while them men are at the priesthood session
Sunday- I get to go to Conference in the conference center. Yea! Then back to grandma and grandpas for the last session and most likely games.
Monday- I fly back to reality.

I am going to have a great time. Yea!

Makes me Happy

This is a random list of things that make me happy.

Watching good old(as in the actors are now dead or close to it) movies with my mom or Amber. One of my favorites is Major and the Minor.

Anything to do with Australia. After all, I was born there. Then again it could be the food, air, scenery, beaches, reefs, animals or the people and there easy going, fun loving nature.

Good Food. I love good Food. It makes my taste buds happy. Oh and it is even better when it looks good too. In case you didn't know, I have dreamed of food. I like those dreams........until I wake up.

Traveling. I love to travel. Even by car if you make a trip out of it. It is fun too see new places, and people. There are so many wonderful things in towns to see. Especially the old little ones. Also if you ask around while you're there you can find some pretty good places to eat. Plus you get a lot of time to get to know the person you're driving with, or, if you're alone, you get a lot of thought time.

A good book on a rainy or sunny day. If it's raining you can curl up in a blanket. If its hot then it gives you an excuse to go outside and tan.


Babies. I love them. They are so cute. I always hate giving the babies back at church. That is why my friend says I steal them. Silly friend.
I don't know who took this picture but they did a good job.
Oh, in case you didn't know, I am going to be an Aunt. That makes me happy too.

Albertsons

I am now employed. Actually I have been employed by Albertsons for about 3 weeks now. They have been keeping me very busy lately. That's ok though because the more they keep me busy the more money I can earn and save for adventures.