EFY Withdrawls...

  This weekend was filled with EFY and its only January! Say what? I guess I should explain myself. First, for people who do not know what in the world I am talking about, EFY stands for Especially For Youth. It is a camp organization that is ran by BYU. It a a youth camp for kids 14-18 years old to meet new youth, gain a strong testimony of the Gospel, and to come closer to Christ. Yes it is a camp that is focused on the LDS faith but that does not mean it is only for LDS teens. The kids come for a week, they have classes, activities, a variety show, spiritual moments, meet new friends, and dance! Thats right we have two dances each week! Crazy!! Anyways, that is a little about the program.
  So on Friday I got the opportunity to do an interview to be a counselor for this upcoming summer again. And I got asked the question, why do you want to do this again? You know you get lack of sleep, that some kids are harder than others, and you could get another job, why continue? I sat there for a moment realizing I never asked myself that question before. Than it hit me, because I love seeing the difference the kids make from the beginning to the end of the week. Seeing the shy girls I have ask a boy on a girl choice slow song on friday, or seeing a girl who was confused about the church bare her testimony on that thursday. Seeing those changes made and learning about the Gospel every day for weeks on end. Also, the friends I personally made these past two summers. Seeing how I talk to them and keep in touch with more than some friends I have known for longer. Being able to meet people from all different walks of life, and going to these amazing places. Those are the reasons why I want to do this again. I know that the kids that I have had in the past have made me a better person and I have learned so much from them, and I can see what they learned from each other. It just amazes me.
  Saturday was EFY Express St. George. Wow just getting a taste for what the summer brings, just gets me all excited. The craziness of check in and registration, the classes, the crazy and random talents kids have, and the dances! All of this in one day! Crazy! Even though I did not get my own kids on saturday I still learned from them. I saw the same things I saw last summer. Small changes. It just reassured me that I want to work this summer for EFY. I hope I get to, that Heavenly Father has it in his plan for me to go at least one more summer. I know that this program is amazing. And I love the sleep deprived weeks, the traveling, the new sets of kids every week, and the experiences. It is all worth it. :)

EFY Express St. George 2014

I love to see the temple :)

  I am LDS. I love my religion with all my heart and soul. I believe it is true and I believe the values and lessons I have learned from my church has made me the woman I am today. As some may know, in the LDS church has temples all around the world. These temples are sacred and beautiful places that we as members cherish. You have to admit, if you have ever seen a LDS temple (even if you are not Mormon) that they are beautiful buildings. Well I have said that my goal is to visit all the LDS temples in the world. Now realistically that will be very challenging, due to the fact that more get called each year, and there is already over like 140 (I am not totally sure). That would be super hard. But I am not calling defeat quite yet. I will try my best as I live my life on this earth to go to every temple. And for me I just want to take a picture in front of it. If I get a chance while I am there to go inside, great, if not at least I got to see the outside beauty and take a picture.
   I have actually visited a lot lately, with all of our adventuous traveling, we decided we would stop at any temple on our way... if we remembered. haha It has been fun seeing the different temples. Some are bigger than others, but they are all unique and so special! So I wanted to show you the ones that I have been to and a fun fact about them.

The Temples I Have Visited:

1. Los Angeles California: This was the first temple I ever went to. Now this was before my plan so I do not have a picture of me but I feel like you should still get to see it...So here is one I just found on Google.
   
2. Salt Lake City, Utah: This temple took the Saints 40 years to make. It made with granite, and reminds everyone of a castle. What  do you think? Also, every year around Christmas they have lights everywhere and millions of people visit every year to see. It is so pretty at Christmas time.
   
   
3. Jordan River, Utah: The day this picture was taken, we went together as cousins and when we got out there was a thunder and lightning storm and it looked legit when lightning stuck behind the temple.
   
4. Oquirrh Mountain, Utah: This is the first "smaller" temple I went to. Yeah it still looks huge. haha And actually one night days after the angel Moroni (some of the temples have a golden person with a horn on top, if you want to know more about him and his story check out lds.org or mormon.org I promise you can find out there) was put on the temple, there was a thunder and lightning storm and it got struck by lightning and it had to be replaced.
   
   
5. Draper, Utah: Fun story, came here with a group of friends when it was first open (well it had only been open for a couple of months) and it was already closed for cleaning.. opps. haha
   
6. Brigham City, Utah: This is the newest dedicated temple for Utah. My roommate Kelsey and I got to go just months after it opened. We went early, lack of sleep, so we forgot a picture. Again you still need to see the beauty. Google is seriously AMAZING!
   
7. St. George, Utah: People think that Salt Lake was the first temple in Utah. Well you are mistaken, this temple was actually the first temple in the state and still sits on its original foundation.
   
8. Manti, Utah: I got to see this temple everyday while I was going to school at Snow College. Fun Fact, the roof is designed like a bottom of a boat. I guess that is what you get when you have Scandinavians build a temple.
   
9. Newport Beach, California: This is the temple I want to one day marry in. When I was younger and it was being built, they had all the kids write on a rock their name and favorite scripture, and the put it in the temple. So apart of me is in there and I want my special day to be there. Its my favorite one.
   
10. Reno, Nevada: Seriously the smallest temple I have ever seen. It is on a hill and it makes you wonder if it is a temple or a large house. But again super pretty.
    
11. Oakland, California: It is such a cool and pretty temple. You can see the whole valley from the temple and the whole valley can see the temple. 
    
12. Sacramento, California: There is a park on the temple grounds. Like with picnic tables, park bathrooms (probably the cleanest park bathrooms ever) and everything! I aboslutely loved it there.
    
13. Boise, Idaho: This is a very different temple. The spire or thing, is not connected to the building which weirded me out not going to lie, but I love how different it is. And side note, I was in sweats that day and there was a wedding (not of anyone I knew) and I felt so weird and under dressed. haha Traveling all day what can you expect?

 Some of the pictures are not of the whole temple, I guess if you really want to see, google! haha Seriously though I love how all of them are super different and yet are all for the same purpose. I feel like that is like people. There is seriously no two people that are the exact same. There is something different about each and every one of us, yet we are the same and have the same purpose, to live to the best of our abilities, to do what we strive for, make goals, fall in love, have a family, make a happy life and one day pass on into the next life. :) See what I did there? haha but seriously, I have all these random things to say about each temple, but they all have the same purpose. Same with people. We are all different. Some are different religions, some see things differently, but we all have a lot of the same purposes.
  I really do love visiting new temples. Seeing the different beauty it brings to the surrounding area. From a far I have seen a lot, but I do not count them because I want to step foot on the property. So until than 13 down, somewhere around 120 to go. Maybe more or maybe less. But hey it gives me an excuse to travel right?! :)

Wow... 2013... You Were One for the Books...

  So in the month of January 2013, I decided that I would make resolutions for the year and put them on a poster so that I could see it everyday. This way I could actually work on getting these goals done throughout the year. Also, I put on there what I did know what was going to happen so that it was also like a timeline for the year. So these were some of my goals for 2013:

• Get back into Shape [I would give that a check...in better shape than I was last january]
• Get a passport [Didn't happen... lets make that a 2014 goal]
• Write in my journal everyday [Missed a couple days...]
• EFY Counselor [Best 6 weeks of my summer]
• Learn a new skill [Tiling from daddy]
• Learn how to do the cartwheel into the splits [Didn't happen... new year to try]

  With these goals, I learned so much. To get back into shape, I took a weight training class and that helped me try to get into the habit of working out. Yes it was hard, but I believe that by the end I realized that it was nice to go to the gym and get away for a bit. Also, that it does not matter how heavy a workout you have, just the fact you are going means a lot. Writing in my journal helped me so much this year. Being able to get my feelings out on paper and just reviewing each day has gotten me through a lot. I was not perfect and missed a day or a week here and there but the fact that I wrote more in my journal this year than I ever have means progress. I learned how to tile from my daddy. That was such an amazing experience and now I have a skill that most girls never learn.

   [Putting in the new floor before doing the tile job]

 [My third journal of the year.. finished]

  There are some things that did not happen this year. I didn't get my passport, didn't learn how to do the cartwheel into the splits, and I didn't go to the temple every month. But here is the great thing about the new year... Its a new year... I can make those goals once again and work hard to actually do them this year.

  [Me in front of the St. George LDS temple]

  Review the year, it has been one crazy year. I have had some great times, with being an EFY counselor, making new friends, continuing my education at SUU, and so much more. I have had some hard times, getting worse and worse news about my dad, him passing away, and hearing about more bad news about other people. Now it is time for a new year and new memories.

  [Some of my crazy fun EFY kids]

 [The man that will never leave my heart and will always be my daddy]

  For you, whoever you may be, I have some advice for you. Make a list, and put it somewhere. It does not have to be all goals, it can something you know will happen that year, no matter what add it to the list. Do not get discouraged if your year is not going the way you wanted to. And remember the great thing about a new year, is that you can work on new things and old things. Good luck with this year. I hope it is a better year for everyone. :) Hello 2014