Good Messes

There are bad messes like this:

And then there are these wonderful messes that you love to get into:

(those are apricots on the left)

P.S. Pictures form Aunt Lorie's wedding coming soon! Including pictures of Katie's cute kids!

Dad, I LOVE YOU!!

Finishing Books

There's something so lonely about finishing a book. Reading a book for the first time is great because you don't know what's going to happen. You get the excitement of not knowing, anticipating what the next chapter holds. And then you finish it, and there's no more funny outburst's from the character's. No more waiting. It's kind of a disappointment, you get excitement and expectation, and then there's nothing to expect. It's like losing a good friend. You know all of the speeches. It loses some of it's magic. It becomes less real, as you look back into random pages of the story.

Reading a book for a second, or third time is different. Of course you have to wait for a while to read a book again, unless it's layered. You have to forget some of the lines. Reading a book again helps you remember why you loved it so much in the first place. Sometimes when you read a book again you see something you didn't see before. That's one of the best parts of rereading a book.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book that I just finished.

"There are lots of things that never go by rule,

There's a powerful pile o' knowledge

That you never get at college,

There are heaps of things you never learn at school"

"Humor is the spiciest condiment in the feast of existence. Laugh at your mistakes but learn from them, joke over your troubles but gather strength from them, make a jest of your difficulties but overcome them."

"There is so much in the world for us all if we only have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it, and the hand to gather it ourselves-so much in men and woman, so much in art and literature, so much in everywhere in which to delight, and for which to be thankful."

- L. M. Montgomery

I just lost my appetite

after looking at the pictures here. I'm never ever going to eat anything fried again. The pictures just get worse and worse.

(WARNING: Discretion advised. Viewing pictures may lead to vomiting, vegetarianism, stomach ache, loss of interest in the state fair, or fainting)

Trek and other tidbit's

Really sorry about the delay!

There's just been so much going on like, Noah going to EFY, and cleaning the house, and catching baby birds (more on that later) and umm.... did I mention that I got a sewing machine!?

YES!!!

My Dad gave it to me! I love that guy! It was really unplanned, I had no idea until I opened the box! Dad loved keeping me in suspense. I love it (the sewing machine, not the suspense)! It's has a lot of features that I don't know how to work yet, but I will. I'm reading the manuel. After I'm finished with the manuel, I'll know how to monogram, do button holes, make quilts, and, umm . . . lots of other things. I don't know what they are yet because I haven't gotten to that part of the manuel!

Anyway, about Trek.

It finally happened! The youth of your stake trekked! They were supposed to trek 25 miles, but after the 2nd day there were so many kids that had heat exhaustion, and the doctor was down to 5 (?) IV's. So they decided to cut the hike short. Granted, they still stayed in the wilderness of the LBJ Grasslands for the full three days. But they only trekked 10 (some have said 9 1/2) miles. In two days!

The *first day it was awfully muddy (from what I hear). Some of the trekkies said the mud was up to their shins, and they had the muddy pants and pantaloons to prove it. They had to push their 350 pound carts through clay (from what I was told). Helen Butcher said that it was "the most physically and mentally demanding thing she had ever done in her life". But every trekkie that I spoke too said that it was worth it. All the youth- from our ward at least- bore their testimony of the faith of the pioneers, and of the gospel itself. A lot of them testified of the power of the preisthood and family's. You could really feel the spirit when they bore their testimony's.

A lot of the trekkies said that doing Trek has really made them appreciate the things that they said they had taken for granted before. Like food, and mattresses, and gatorade. =)

About the bird; Dad and I were picking up a trailer from the church to convert half of it into a cooler, and there are these little birds at church called killdeers that always twitter around in the church parking lot. My Dad (he's so cool) saw a baby killdeer. Baby killdeer's can't fly, but they can run. So we chased it around the parking lot and caught it!

*This happened on Thursday the 11th

Rained out

Yesterday was supposed to be a "last supper" at Bishop's house before Trek but, unfortunately, the elements had other ideas. The plan was to go over to Bishops house to swim, and smoke yummy meat, and swim, and eat, and... and I think you get the picture. But it was not to be.

It was overcast all day, and I think it sprinkled for a few minutes in the morning, But the sky didn't give any other indication of the massive storm that it was harboring. We (Dad, Noah and I) got there an hour early to set the fire going in the smoker and set chairs up. It was steadily getting darker as we became more prepared for the activity.

We started seeing lightning about 20 minutes before the activity, and we told the few people that had started swimming Noah to get out of the pool. Ten minutes before the activity a tornado warning was issued. We were about to start to make phone calls to tell people not to come but before we had the chance, it stopped. By the time people started showing up it had become apparent that this would be a very short activity. People would eat, chat a little, and then leave. That's all that they would have time to do before the storm would hit.

It's amazing how fast you can do things if you really put your mind to it. We cleaned up the all the food, got chairs picked up, and got the smoker squared away in 7 minutes (that's a estimate, it could have been longer). People were still arriving despite the green sky and 2nd tornado warning. Those people were promised burger's and by golly they got them!

Going home was a nightmare though. Los Rios (a flood area) was crazy! We didn't know if it had ust started raining there, of if it was flooded. But we had to get home as quickly as possible and that was the quickest route. To be safe, we put the truck into four wheel drive. We lived. It wasn't flooded too badly.

The rain stopped about ten minutes after we were home and safe in the closet. So, the storm lasted about 30 minutes. Not so massive... in our area. From what I heard, the place where we're doing Trek (which started today!) got hammered!

Poor Trekkies.

Trent's Graduation

Trent graduated with the largest class in the country.

1300 kids graduating.

After the ceremony and a graduation lunch we went to the pond by our house for pictures

Books

Some of my new favorite books:

The Hiding Place

By: Corrie Ten Boom

True Story

During the Second World War, the Ten Boom home became a refuge, a hiding place, for fugitives and those hunted by the Nazis. By protecting these people, Casper and his daughters, Corrie and Betsie, risked their lives. This non-violent resistance against the Nazi-oppressors was the Ten Booms' way of living out their Christian faith. This faith led them to hide Jews, students who refused to cooperate with the Nazis, and members of the Dutch underground resistance movement. On February 28,1944, they were betrayed. Corrie and Betsie were arrested. Corrie's brother Willem, sister Nollie, and nephew Peter were at the house that day, and were also taken to prison. Four Ten Booms gave their lives for their family’s commitment, but Corrie came home from the death camp. She realized her life was a gift from God, and she needed to share what she and Betsy had learned in Ravensbruck: "There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper still" and "God will give us the love to be able to forgive our enemies."

Stepping Heavenward

One Woman's Journey to Godliness

By: Elizabeth Prentiss

True Story

"How dreadfully old I am getting! Sixteen!" So begins "Stepping Heavenward", the journal-like account of a 19th century girl who learns, on the path to womanhood, that true happiness can be found in giving oneself for others.

Going to the Chapel and we're, gonna get ma-a-aried

Aunt Lorie's Bridal shower was Saturday May 30th, 10:00 AM (sorry about the delay). We told embarrassing stories, ate yummy food, and in general, had a marvelous time.

Thank you Sis. Boyce for the pictures!