Art

I have always loved art of all kinds.  I have grown up playing the piano, as a child, like every other kid I hated it, but I have come to love it, and miss it when I can't play it all the time.  In high school I took multiple years worth of credits of drawing classes and loved learning more and getting better at drawing.  Lately my attention has been given to photography.  I love looking at photos and  admiring them, and I have been reading tons of articles about photography, and I just borrowed my parents DSLR and have been trying to practice and just enjoying it.  Here are some of the pictures I have taken lately.

Tell me what you think and if you have any advice.

Parents are the Best

Last week I was scheduled to teach the lesson to my Laurels, but then I ended up not teaching due to some scheduling conflicts with the Young Men. So, my lesson was postponed to this coming Sunday. I always like to prepare my lessons in advance so I can think them through with my own thoughts and testimony and good delivery. I love it. The only time it gets hard is when I start the lesson. But once I get going, it's great. The lesson I prepared is entitled Honoring Parents. When I was little I thought this concept was so silly. Who wouldn't honor their parents? Afterall, if it weren't for your parents, where would you go when your 5 and 6 and 7 years old. As I've grown older I've come to understand more fully the importance of honoring your parents. You grow up and you think you know everything, and then real life experience reminds you that you don't, and some how your parents still always know the answers. It's amazing.

I've always been intrigued by the scripture in Exodus that says, "Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." Wow. If you honor your parents, you will live longer than if you didn't honor your parents. How could that be? I think one answer might be that they teach us not to do stupid stuff. That alone will save you in a lot of situations. I think another is that they teach us the lessons they learned from their mistakes so we don't have to make the same mistakes. Parents are awesome. I'm partial, but I think my parents are especially awesome. In the lesson I prepared, there are a list of questions to ask your mom and questions to ask your dad. I thought I'd give it a try, and you know what? I felt like I knew all of the answers. But I decided to ask my parents the questions anyway to see if their answers were the same as mine. I was suprised by their answers. I thought after 22 years of knowing my parents that I'd know them pretty darn well, and yet, there were things they said that I'd never heard before. It was a neat experience, to put it in simple words. It gave me insight into their lives and their perspective and it showed me a side of my parents I hadn't really seen before. I love my parents more than I know how to say. They are two incredible people. If I can ever be even a tenth of the kind of people they are, I know I will have been successful in this life. I love you Mom and Dad!

Car Troubles

At the very beginning of this week, I experience my car's first death. It was about 6pm on Monday evening when I came out of Rite Aid to drive the few blocks home. I got in the car, turned the key and absolutely nothing happened (sad face). I was heart broken. My car doesn't die. I realize it's 5 years old, but it's not supposed to ever die. It's supposed to be invincible! I called Josh and he came to my rescue with old jumper cables. He was even kind enough to show me how they spark when they touch. With Josh's expertise, we got it started and I drove my sad, moaning car home. Upon parking it, I hesitantly turned it off. And you know what? It wouldn't start again. It wouldn't even light up. It was totally and utterly dead. Sadness. There's something about a running car...it's like it's alive. And when it doesn't even light up or make a noise, you get an empty feeling inside of you. We then proceeded to the car store to find a second life for my car. Luckily, they had several, but only a few options that would work my cute Honda. We purchased the Life Giver and headed home. At 11:30pm we pulled out the dead heart of my car and replaced it with the new one with the aid of Joshua's car's headlights and his own skills and tools. I acted as moral support in this hour of need. About midnight, the transplant was complete. I was honored enough to give it the first breath of life. I turned the key and it coughed for air and then it made the most wonderful sound! It hummed! It hummed stronger than before and I felt grateful for new car batteries and a husband who is so skilled.

Joshua showing off his MaD mAnLy SkiLLs!!

My car's new HEART

World Cup

Saturday was a very long but most excellent day.  It started as we arrived at Deer Valley at 9 in the morning and skied hard for a few good hours, the snow was good, the sun was up and couldn't have been better.  At about noon my aunt and uncle who were up there with us took us over and dropped us off at Park City Resort so we could watch the half pipe competition for a few hours.  We hiked about half way up the pipe and we watched from there.  It was awesome, those skiers were flying high and spinning like crazy, it was amazing!  When it was over we started walking down and we were going to try and catch a city bus to get back to our car at Deer Valley, the problem was we had no idea where to catch the bus.  Then we saw a Deer Valley work truck so we asked the two guys if they would mind giving us a ride back to the resort, the were super nice and said, "sure hop in, which parking lot are you in,"  how lucky was that!  They dropped us off and we suiting up and went a got in a few more runs before the end of the day. 

But our adventures don't end there, then our friend Shawn,( Melissa came up a little later), met up with us and we went to Davanzas in Park City and got a quick bite to eat, some pizza and fries and a drink for 6 bucks.  Then we rushed back up to Deer Valley and hiked up the bunny hill, which is much longer and steeper than you think skiing down it, and we got to the front row to watch the dual mogul competition.  Qualifying runs started at 5 and were supposed to go until 7 but right when we got there a skier crashed and the ski patrol had to put her in a sled and bring her all the way down, it took almost an hour.  The qualifying round went till about 8 the the finals began at 8:30 and went till almost 10.  It was super exciting and even though it was very cold, with all the jumping and dancing and yelling we stayed warm and smiling. When it was over, we found brother Scott and his wife Katie and we went to the 7 11 and got a drink and hot chocolate to end the night right.

Here is a movie a put together of the events, enjoy!

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY!!

Remember the days in elementary school when we celebrated every holiday in the year? I loved it! And then when we got into middle school, we stopped celebrating Columbus Day, Presidents Day, St. Patricks Day, Easter and, of course, Groundhog Day. But today I'm going to make a point of celebrating Groundhog Day. Afterall, the furry little animal controls the weather, does he not? This year I heard Mr. Puxatony Phil saw his shadow, so I think that means 6 more weeks of winter. Hooray! I think that is something to celebrate! Bring on the snow! Come April, I will hope for warmer weather. But for now, I like snow. Enjoy your Groundhog Day!

Midnight Thoughts

Last night--late last night--after spending the entire day and night at World Cup events in Park City, Josh and I got into the discussion of ski boots and comfort. Ski boots are generally very comfortable. They are snug, but cozy.Yet at the end of they day, it feels so good to take them off. I could only think to compare it to being in the womb. Babies love being cozy and snug in the womb, but when they are born they love to stretch and wiggle. Perhaps we still possess those same feelings of comfort. We like to be snug, so we like it when our feet are snug in our ski boots. But, like a baby after birth, we like to stretch and wiggle our toes and feet after being in boots all day. It's an oxymoron, I suppose. But it's true and every skier knows what it's like. Maybe it's just a skier thing.  

A+ Day

Friday after a long week of school and an economics test, I rewarded myself by going skiing. It was a bright and sunny day with good snow and little signs of big crowds. It was also the World Cup Qualifying for the Ariels, those guys are amazing!

More to come from Saturdays half pipe and moguls soon!

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