Guest Blog by Autumn. Her Laurel Temple trip to Utah!

The Laurel class went to Utah last weekend.This trip was to visit 7 temples in two days. The class consisted of 6 girls, plus 3 Young Woman leaders and our Priesthood holder.

These pictures are in front of the Salt Lake Temple by the East doors. These doors were designed and built by two of our young woman's great great so on great grandpa.



The First temple that we visited was the Bountiful Temple.



This Temple had beautiful arches and had doors that automatically opened (so awesome!) I enjoyed the pretty arches the most,and the special spirit you could feel on the temple grounds although you can feel that on every temple ground.



This is the back of the temple it was a very nice day and perfect for pictures!



This is in front of the awesome doors! This picture was difficult to take because the doors kept opening up behind us. This picture only has four of the girls because the other two joined us the second day (one was in the school play and the other had a tennis match)

The second temple we went to was Mount Timpanogus!



This temple was my favorite to see! It was so pretty I loved the windows in it. It changed color from green to blue. This temple really stood out to me because of the windows against its grey sides. It is such a pretty temple I think that it is my new favorite.



This pictures kind of shows you the windows and how pretty they are.

The next temple we saw was the Provo Temple.
This temple had a really big impact on me. I finally put down my camera and really felt the spirit on the temple grounds.This temple has a very special spirit to it and it is very strong. One of the reasons is because it is so close to MTC. I really enjoyed sitting and looking at it. My YW leader Sister Ulrich told us about their engagement story it was so sweet President Ulrich are priesthood holder looked a little embarrassed though. This temple is very different and has a sister temple in Ogden.



This temple has a little hill in the back of it that you can climb up and get a really pretty look at.

That is all the temples that we saw during the first day. We went and stayed at the Bishops relatives house. Whose son turned out to be dating my young woman's leaders daughter. Small world after all. The people were really nice. We watched a movie on how the Salt Lake Temple was built. Which was really cool. I learned that the three towers on each side represented the Aaronic and Melchezidech Priesthood. I also learned that they had to bury the temple when the army came. When the unburied it the foundation had cracked so they had to undo 9 years of work.

After a good nights sleep we got up at 7 and got ready leaving the house by 8. We then stopped by a really fancy McDonalds it had a waterfall and a fireplace in it!

After that we went to temple square and met up with the rest of our group! Then we visited the different visiting centers. This included the visitor center with the Christes statues. This was a big deal since we have a mini version in the Idaho Falls visiting center. In front of the mini Christes statue my family had our picture taken after we had been sealed. The YW decided to take a picture in front of it. We decided for this picture we were going to kneel because it was so early there was nobody else there. During this time the spirit really strengthened because we were kneeling at our saviors feet. We quietly discussed that one day this will really happen and that we all hope when he arrives we will be able to look into his face and know who he is.



We then went and took a tour of the Tabernacle.Then we took a tour of the assembly hall which has all original flooring and seating. After that we went to another building and saw the Salt Lake Temple cut out.If you haven't had a chance to see it i recommend that you do so.



After we stopped at the temple we went to lunch at the Lions House (or something like that) It was super yummy.

TO BE CONTINUED..............

14 Day Walk with Christ

Our Beehive leader asked all of the Young women to go on a 14 Day Walk with Christ. She spent a lot of time preparing the lesson for the girls. She prepared it for all of the YW in our ward (there are many) and each parent was given 14 envelopes for their daughter. We were supposed to give them one envelope each morning and there was a poem, story, or some other thing the YW were supposed to read and reflect on throughout the day. Often there were references to scriptures as well and questions on the back for each girl to reflect upon. The idea was to draw closer to Jesus and realize how much our Savior was willing to sacrifice for us. Then Easter Sunday we had a lesson and she talked about the days leading up to his death. It was such a powerful lesson and the spirit was so strong. What a special Easter lesson for our young women. She finished the lesson by playing the song below. The video is long and we didn't see the video but had a recording of the song instead. It made me cry and I felt blessed one of the leaders took so much time to help the girls grow closer to our Savior.

Dearly Beloved....

I loaded some pictures from Autumn's camera yesterday and aparantley we had a wedding in our back yard that I was not aware of. I will let the pictures tell the story. Missing is the lovely photographer Autumn.


The Guests

The Ring Bear (HahHa)




The Groom

The Bride and Groom... Don't they look happy, the bride is stunning.



the Minister and the Witness



The Minister is really doing a fine job!

Looks like she also has a side business as a chauffeur!

Bunnies

We ended up getting bunnies for the girls earlier this week. They are really cute and the girls love them. I have missed having bunnies. We decided to get three so there was no fighting. Each bunny has it's own personality and they are fun to watch. Autumn's is a boy so when Rich gets their cages built he will be by himself. He is the most mischievous and outgoing. Autumn named him Buster. Tymber s bunny is Oreo, she is a little wild like Tymber. Hope's bunny is Snickers, she has really long lashes and is a lover.

Rich and his job

Rich has been at his job a little over a week now. The first week he was on the computers in training. He said their system is really old and there was a lot to learn. This week he has been training part of the day on the computers and then part of the day on the floor. He loves being on the floor, he comes home each day telling me all of the exciting things he has done that day, he has even made a few special order sales. He gets commission from those sales. His manager told him he is doing a great job and is very knowledgeable when the customers ask questions. He also tells me everyone he works will seems very friendly.

I love having him come home and be in such a good mood and wanting to tell me how his day went. He is joking around and playing with the kids more, it is wonderful seeing the happy fun man I married come back to us. The stress is starting to leave our house and as a result I find my mood is changing as well. We are blessed and grateful to our Heavenly Father for answering our prayers.

One year down...

This past Sunday marked my first year of college complete. The college year went super fast and it is hard to believe I have been back to school for nine months (that's like a pregnancy hahaha). I have done pretty well as far as my grades go, I have worked my butt off. I completed the year with a GPA of 3.79

US/101 INTRODUCTION TO UNIVERSITY STUDIES (AXIA)
A

SCI/162 PRINCIPLES OF HEALTH AND WELLNESS (AXIA)
A

COM/155 UNIVERSITY COMPOSITION AND COMMUNICATION I (AXIA)
A

FP/101 FOUNDATIONS OF PERSONAL FINANCE (AXIA)
A-

HUM/176 MEDIA AND AMERICAN CULTURE (AXIA)
B+

COM/156 UNIVERSITY COMPOSITION AND COMMUNICATION II (AXIA)
A

PSY/201 FOUNDATIONS OF PSYCHOLOGY (AXIA)
B+

HUM/111 CRITICAL AND CREATIVE THINKING (AXIA)
A


I have now begun my first health care class. This second year the assignments and discussion questions are done differently so this first week has thrown me off my game some. I will get used to it but it is different. Hopefully I can keep my grades up as classes get harder and more demanding. It will be a challenge. The 2 B's I received made me mad, I know it is stupid to think I can pull strait A's but I work dang hard, I was really close to A's with both of them I was at 88%.

My Dad cracks me up, every time I talk to him he asks me how my grades are and if I have any missing assignments, then he tells me it is a good thing I am doing well or he will have to ground me. I would have never thought 21 years after high school I would be striving for a college degree. I am also finding a confidence in myself that has been lost for a long time. For the first time I am someone other than a wife and mother. Not that I don't love being both and am beyond blessed to be both, but it has been nice finding "me" again as well. I hope my girls' decide to go to college out of high school and not wait as long as I did to get their degree.

New job.

Rich has a new job! We are so excited, it has been a longtime coming with a lot of prayers from us and many people praying for us. His body cannot do construction any longer. For the past 2 years his back has been really bad. MRI's, doctors visits, chiropractor and so forth. He has been able to work some but in constant pain. Add the economy into the jobs and it hasn't been good. We have been applying and applying to many places. The problem is so has everyone else with the economy. In January I applied to both the Idaho Falls and Pocatello Lowe's, different positions. Within days he had interviews with both stores and then second interviews. We both felt strongly that this is where he needed to be and felt he would receive an offer from one. Then he was turned down for both. It was a blow to both of us. Then in March the Pocatello Lowe's contacted him and told him if he was interested the position re-opened. They had really liked him before but had given the position to someone in-house. He reapplied and then we waited, and waited, and waited. They had to interview other people, but he didn't have to interview again. Finally they called and offered him a job, he had to pass the drug test and background check. We waited a week on the check and they called him Tuesday telling him to come to orientation Wednesday. He went today for 3 hours and tomorrow starts his first full day.
I am really excited and proud of him. He mainly will work in windows and doors. He is very qualified for this position. Even though it is a pay cut for us, not working doesn't bring in money. This is a steady paycheck every 2 weeks plus quarterly bonuses available. Also really good benefits and retirement. So here is to a new and exciting chapter in our lives. Not to mention this will help his body and back to heal like it needs to and how wonderful he won't hve to work in the weather, hot or cold!

Little old ladies

My job takes A LOT of patience. Some days I have none and some days I have plenty. Some things you just can't fix, like stupid, you can't fix stupid. It amazes me how many stupid people are out there. Then there are the little old ladies, love them, as long as they aren't grouchy! Take my call today she is 84, I was helping her get her TV turned on and asked her to press a channel up button on her remote once I had the TV on. Beep, beep, beep, beep.... Mrs. - can you please stop pushing buttons on your phone ....beep, beep, beep Mrs - I can hear her in the background "It's not working, the channel is not changing" I finally got her attention to explain to her the phone was not the remote control (she giggles) then sets the phone down and I can hear her talking into the remote...hello, hello can you hear me hello, hello.It was probably a good 10 minutes before she got back on the phone. I finally was able to solve her issue after about an hour on the phone. Rich came in the room once and I was screaming at the top of my lungs so she could hear me.
I am glad my job teaches me patience, it is a virtue and I need it. Most days I enjoy my job and am blessed that I have a job. I am very blessed I get o work from home. Whenever have bad days I remind myself I am home working in my pajamas and that is a very good thing. It makes me even smile when I have an extremely difficult customer, or one that isn't the brightest bulb on the block. But little sweet ladies, I love them even though they are frustrating at times. Now if I can just explain to people sir... put down the remote and no-one will get hurt.