Friday, May 21, 2010

Girls' Weekend

This past weekend I had the opportunity to escape the unpredictable Utah Spring weather to the wonderfully pleasant weather and atmosphere of St. George! It was great to be able to spend the weekend with family, and even better, all girls :)
I am in love with the St. George temple. Mostly because of the temple grounds. Red rock, green grass, palm trees, and as you can see, an assortment of beautiful and colorful flowers!
I would like you to meet our friend, Coyote. He came everywhere with us! And never once did he complain or gripe about anything. He was a complete joy to be around. Here he is at the temple!
All us girls at the St. George temple. Kristen and Carrie were able to go to the temple earlier in the week, but the rest of us got to go on Sunday in place of church. It was great weather, and it was fun to go in the visitor's center. A great spiritual experience. I am continually amazed at all that the pioneers sacrificed and went through.
One of my favorite highlights from the weekend. Can you blame me? Turner was very well behaved and pleasant :) And boy was he spoiled with all the attention.
One of the other highlights of the weekend was hanging out at the pool working on our tans. Pasty Winter white is not a good look for me. It was a little bright for Turner... he went swimming for the first time, and liked it for a little bit!
Oh! Here is coyote again at the Tuacahn theater to watch Brian Regan!
All the girls at Brian Regan. The red rock background and atmosphere was absolutely gorgeous. Especially with the green trees and accents of color in the flowers around. Brian Regan lived up to all my hopes, dreams, and expectations! Lots of laughter and great jokes. All in all it was a great weekend and I loved being with Mom and my sisters! I wish we could get together more often!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Rising to the Call

I am just barely breathing again, and it feels good! For those of you who have not heard, I am the new Relief Society president in my BYU single's ward. In short, this was an unexpected and overwhelming answer to many of my prayers. It has been very overwhelming, and I have been so incredibly busy, but I have already seen many blessing come into my life resulting from this call. I have never been in any presidency other than Y.W., so I am completely new at all of this. If any of you are ever in the same position that I have been experiencing, I have a few words of advice:

1. Breathe, it's a lot to handle, but it gets easier and you don't have to do it alone.
2. Pick your counselors and secretary prayerfully- they are going to be your greatest support.
3. Use your counselors! You don't have to do everything on your own. They are called to support you. Utilize them.
4. Delegation. I have learned through many callings that delegation can work wonders!
5. Pray for the sisters of you ward. As I have been doing this it is amazing how much closer I feel to them and how much better I have come to know them.
6. Ask the Lord for help frequently. The Lord qualifies whom he calls.

So far things have been absolutely wonderful. It's only been 2 weeks and I know every girl, and I feel like I've known them for quite a while. I have the best counselors and secretary, and I have never felt closer to my Heavenly Father. I'm so grateful for this opportunity! I don't know what it is that the Lord needs from me at this specific time, but I hope and pray that I can serve to my greatest potential.