Dear diary,

Last week I had an amazing experience. Sarah (my sister) received her endowments in the Mount Timpanogos Temple and I got to attend the session. The night before I decided that I would fast for my mom that she could have an experience of her mother the next day at the temple (my grandmother passed away when my mom was a little girl). I spent the day of fasting, praying, and focusing on that. I wore my church clothes all day and only listened to church music. I felt the Spirit the whole time. When the session began, I could feel the spirit telling me that my grandmother was close--if not already there--but to focus now on the session's instructions. At a particular point in the session, words were spoken that completely overwhelmed me with the Spirit. I knew that my grandmother was in the room with us. She was right there with us! I thought I could sense her sitting with my mother and Sarah. It was as though she were right there trying to hold my mother's hand. I've never felt so much joy and success in fasting and praying. I've never felt the spirit so strongly! It was absolutely remarkable. Later, my Aunt Paula commented that she could feel her there and that she hadn't felt her that strongly in a long time. I smiled and thanked my heavenly Father for the amazing experience.

I truly believe in the power of fasting and prayer and of the temple. I've never felt so close to the spirits of the heavenly spirit world than when I was in the temple. The veil was so thin and the spirit so strong. I know that we can receive answers to prayers through sincere fasting and praying. This is an amazing tool that God has given us to help us through this life. We must use it (but only sincerely and appropriately) as we would any other tool. It must be couple by true faith in Jesus Christ--faith that He lives and watches over us and wants us to be happy and have success in life. Have faith in Him and His atonement. That He came to earth and lived so that we could have an example to follow. And he died so that we would have a means to return to Heaven some day. Jesus Christ lives. I know this more now than ever before.

I also know that the spirits of the next world are so close at hand--particularly in the temple. Their bodies die, but their spirits are still reachable. If we truly need them, then they can be there for us. Nobody is ever completely gone---and one day we will see them again.

Girls night!

Jenna Worwood, Maryn Jenkins, and me

GIRLS NIGHT!

Well, technically this is our second girls night. Last night we watched Win a Date with Tad Hamilton and Jenna (my adorable, eccentric cousin), Maryn (my diva, should-be-a-model sister), and I painted our nails blue, pink, and pink, respectively. They look fabulous! And tonight we did green avocado facial masques and watched She's The Man and ate brownies. I love my girls! Jenna stayed a couple nights with us before she went to EFY and Maryn came to keep her company. Huzzah! You're all invited next time. :)

P.S. I really think we could be the next Twilight cast. What do you think?

Mom, where's my breakfast?

I fell asleep on the living room floor for five minutes while Jesse was in the shower. It's amazing what a babe can do in five unsupervised minutes. She was so proud of herself. Cheerios for breakfast!

P.S. It is my fault on so many fronts: 1) I wasn't watching her, 2) I haven't locked the cabinet yet so the Cheerios are very accessible, and 3) ...I've taught her well that Cheerios are a great breakfast food.

"Your neighbors will appreciate it"

I am warning you now: this is an angry post. Okay, I lie, not super angry, but relatively angry. Like, the kind where you seethe about it all day long, but you're too afraid to do anything about it.

Let me just tell you the story.

I live in a house. The house has a yard. The first summer that Jesse and I lived in the house, we did an amazing job working in the yard. The second summer I was pregnant, in school, working, and doing an internship. Needless to say, I did not have much time to work in the yard. Jesse was also in school and working 30-40 hrs. a week. When I had Abigail I realized that in order to keep up with her and the inside of the house, that some things must be neglected for now: the yard. So for the third summer, I am a mom and trying to figure out when I can shower for the day. Jesse is working 7:30 am -5:30 pm and then he's gone for school from 8 pm - whenever he gets done (I've been told that he may not come home at all when deadlines hit). Yay. So. The yard looks--not horrible--but not fabulous either.

This morning I went outside for my morning run. Outside my door I found a sign that read, "Please take pride in your yard and home by keeping it looking nice! Your neighbors will appreciate it!" The first thing I did was notice how poorly phrased the sentence seemed. The second thing I did was cry. The third was to get angry and grow a perma-scowl for the rest of the day. I know I shouldn't let it bother me, but it makes me feel ostracized from the neighborhood and makes me feel defiant about taking care of my yard. I just needed to cry this out to somebody. I'm sad that my neighbors are annoyed by us. I feel guilty that it doesn't look any better. And I wish that I could find time and resources to fix it. Overall, I feel embarrassed, hurt, and angry. And I may just not mow my lawn this week.

Another 1st attempt

It's supposed to be fondant.



This attempt at a hobby was way more messy and time-consuming than I had patience for. One day, I'll really finish one. And maybe I'll even finish it tonight, but this is it for now.


I'm beat and my babes are starving. So, it's an aqua cake. And in honor of Kelsey, it has pink frosting in the inside. Too bad you can't see that. Hmm, this is really lame of me to just quit. I'm still in my apron as I write. Oh fine, be that way. I'll finish the dumb thing.

Finished product to be posted later.

Happy Birthday

I'm sure you're all just dying to know how my birthday went. Well, to be honest, I wasn't really expecting much to happen. Jesse was supposed to be at work all day and we had agreed that we wouldn't do presents since we just bought plane tickets to Alabama (Jesse's fam lives there as of Sept 2007). I woke up, went on a short run, went to Abby's swimming lessons, and then went home. We were rinsing off in the shower when I heard the doorbell ring once. I ignored it figuring that if it was really important that they would call me and a leave a message. The door rang twice. I expected this. I assumed they would try just to make sure I really wasn't home. I dried off and picked up Abbs just as the doorbell was ringing for a third time. Well, nobody rings three times except Stephen and my dad. I haphazardly threw my clothes on and put a diaper on Abbs and raced out the front door. I ran right past the beautiful pink/white gerber daisy sitting in Abby's umbrella stroller. I stopped short when I saw Jesse sitting there with a huge smile on his face. He was home! Oh he was home! Jesse surprised me by coming home early so we could celebrate. We went to Costa Vida for lunch and played up in Provo Canyon at Bridal Veil Falls for the afternoon. We splashed in the water and played on the grass. We have some great pictures there--I'll put them up soon. Jesse's sister Shelby came and stayed with us last night so they made me my birthday dinner and we just had fun. It was a fabulous birthday. I think the best gift I got was just to have Jesse with me.
P.S. This is my second attempt at digi scrapping. I didn't have Jesse here to help me this time, so it's not as fabulous and perfect as we'd like. But oh well. Yay for me.