Adiós 2015 (a year in review)

Well I made it through another semester, another year. Its been a great one, full of surprises, tears, and memories. Here is my year in review; month by month. (links to other posts included for further reading).

January-  I celebrated my birthday in the mission with my “hija”.

 

February- I served in Suncuan ward in the Atiquizaya stake, and went to see “Los Ausoles” as a zone activity.

 

March- I helped plan a talent show ward activity, and I changed areas to the Centro ward in Santa Ana.

 

April- We had two mission temple trips and brought the Familia Morán, I also experienced my first “quinceñera” party.

 

May- We went on a beautiful adventure with the Familia Melendez to cerro verde, and Raul got Baptized as my mission miracle.

 

June- I finished my 18 months as a missionary and flew back home to Chicago to see my family.

 

July- Sheldon and I reunited in Chicago after being apart for 2 years (too long) and I  started a internship job as a research and development scientist at Now Foods. I also went to help at Girls camp for a day.

 

August- Our family went on a vacation to California; Yosemite, San Francisco, and Monterey.

 

September- My dad helped me move into my new apartment in Rexburg and school began. Sheldon and I did some fun hikes.

 

October- Dad, Mckinsey, Sheldon and I all met up for general conference. We also carved pumpkins, went to a Lindsey Sterling Concert, went shooting… And my favorite: took a day trip to Yellowstone.

 

November- Sheldon and I celebrated 2.5 years together, went iceskating, I had a mission reunion, My parents came to visit for the weekend, I went to the Lloyds for Thanksgiving, We took a trip to Utah to see the lights.

 

December- I took part in a live nativity as a shepherd girl, and Sheldon proposed! I also finished my fall semester finals and flew home to Chicago to spend christmas with my family.

 

 

 

A Little Place Called Grace

My Thanksgiving weekend was mostly spent at Sheldon’s Home in a little town called Grace, Idaho.

I got to spend lots of time with his family. Once we arrived, Sheldon took me shooting with his dad and brother in their fields. I didn’t hit the targets, but I hit the metal stand for them… its something. That first night we made home made pizzas and rented the McFarland movie. Its a good one, we all enjoyed it! My favorite part was the little fat kid that won them the race… so inspirational!

Wednesday morning I got up and started making some of my family’s favorite holiday rolls. It took a good portion of the day because they had to rise twice. Everyone seemed to like them, so I’d say they turned out pretty good. I also made his family some pupusas with a taco bar lunch. I did lots of cooking the day before so I didnt have to fight for the kitchen on thanksgiving day. So that afternoon Shel took me on a drive around Grace so I could take some pictures. I wanted to capture the beauty of this hidden little farming community. We also got some really good hot chocolate in town on the way back.

Then the next day was Thanksgiving day! All the women around the house worked together to make this beautiful relish tray to start the appetite for our big meal later on. I loved the colors and presentation in ramekins.

The Thanksgiving meal was delicious! We had big plates and everyone was so full. We had the typical turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy, green bean casserole, fruit salad, green salad, rolls, creamed peas, yams, and a few pie options. Our tummies were stuffed! That evening while the guys watched football, the girls pulled out the crafts! Sheldon’s mom was nice enough to buy each of us a little wooden christmas set to paint up. They all turned out cute!

It also snowed that morning, so I had to take a few more outside pictures with fresh snow!

The next day was Friday so we got up to drive to Utah. We didn’t get caught in any traffic or snow! We were very blessed.

We did some shopping in SLC and then went to American Fork to have lunch with Grandma. Shortly after lunch we then drove to Provo to pick up my sista and her date to go see the first season lighting at Temple Square.

It was a fun double date night. Because we knew it would be cold, we bought some hot chocolate to keep our hands warm as we walked around. It was a little colder than we all expected but for the record; ‘Kneeders’ hot chocolate is wayy good! Funny thing is that we all got there a little early and didn’t see too many people around, but once we walked around to the other side we were bombarded. It was like instantly packed like conference time there. Good thing we were early and had a nice spot staked out, because they turned the lights on 5 mins early. It was beautiful though. I can’t imagine the amount of hours spent on lighting each of those trees/ nativities. Impressive sight!

My favorite lights were the little bubble lights that floated on the reflection pool.

My sis and her date seem to have had a fun time.

So did Sheldon and I.

We ended the night with pizza from ‘The Brick Oven’ in Provo. SO GOOD! man that place is yummy, and dad treated us to dinner. Thanks! Wonderful evening.

Well we woke up Saturday morning to a delicious southern cooked breakfast of biscuits and gravy from Grandma, then we were on the road once again. But this time weather/ snow was against us….

Thankfully, we made it back safe. Sheldon and I had time to make oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and little star ornaments before we had to separate for another week!

So I ended up having a fun & memorable Thanksgiving in ‘a little place called Grace’.

Happy start to the holiday season!

#LDSconf Road Trip

Okay time to post about the fun, but WAY too short conference weekend. I had to plan ahead and finish all of my homework through Tuesday ahead of time so that I would be able to relax and enjoy the weekend. So I did it, and thank goodness I did.

My room mate and I left around 2:00pm, right after my last Friday class ended, to meet up with Sheldon. We made good time and ate Jimmy Johns on the road, what else could I ask for…?

Well once we met up with Shel we split cars and both headed towards Utah. #roadtrip

…in the rain.

We made it out of Idaho without any problems but almost as soon as we crossed the Utah border we were backed up in traffic, and the little red traffic line just kept getting longer and longer on the GPS….

We were headed towards Provo, Utah to be able to watch the BYU game that night. We got there just a few minutes late, but its fine. Thankfully, we got a great deal on tickets (thanks to my awesome sister and her friend).

We shared a single hot dog for dinner… We had quite the experience ordering that hot dog because there was a little awkward moment with the cashier, but it was all good. We also ran into my sister and her date at the game which was a fun bonus.

It was a fun time, the two teams were both tied for the majority of the time we were there until the 4th quarter where the cougars pulled ahead 3 points. Well we ended up leaving shortly after to not have to play the traffic game, and also because we had parked really far away… as we were walking away form the stadium we could hear lots of cheering and shouting…. we missed a touchdown. And then we missed more action. I guess the most important part is that the Cougars won and that were were at the game. A little rainy and chilly, but good times.

We drove back and had a midnight trip to McDonalds for some fries because we were pretty hungry, then we retired to my Grandma’s house for the night.

Early the next morning we all got up and ready for our special day. Dad had gotten 5 tickets; so my dad, sister and her friend, Sheldon and I all went together. It was a beautiful, slightly overcast day.

Temple square was pretty as always.

Also the conference center was packed like it is only a few times each year.

I loved listening to Conference. We attended the Saturday Morning Session of conference. It is a beautiful thing to be a part of the true church and to have the chance to listen to living prophets who receive revelation for us today. I loved listening to their inspired words. Mostly I just loved attending with those that I love.

Favorite conference parts of Saturday a.m.:

• The pottery lesson that the center of the wheel is important to be able to be successful. Reminding us that our center is Christ. (Richard J. Maynes)
• I liked that the family motto was “It will all work out” this gives us an eternal perspective when we have trials in life. (By sister Neill F. Marriott)
• The “What lack I yet?” question from “the young rich man” story in Matthew 19 reminds us that with humility and listening to the spirit we can improve as individuals. (Larry R. Lawrence)

After that session of conference I got together with some mission people and we all went out to eat at an authentic pupusa restaurant. We all talked about missing our second home and every little detail with few Spanish words. There weren’t many of us that showed up, just 4 total plus Sheldon. Shel was so sweet that he paid for all of our food. He’s so thoughtful like that. It was yummy, also they had kola champagne. yum.

Our whole original group met up and left SLC for grandma’s house to finish up afternoon conference.

Saturday p.m. highlights:

• I liked Robert D. Hales’ counsel that if we ask for advise we should take it humbly. He had lots of good thoughts in this talk for planning for a future family.
• President Jeffery R. Holland shared about Mother’s love, but I especially loved the part where he says; “believe in god and in yourself, you are doing better than you think you are.”

While at Grandma’s house we all ate some yummy home made enchiladas and I brought some chips and salsa stuff. It was fun family time, but didn’t last nearly as long as we would have hoped. After dinner we all parted our separate ways. Sheldon and I headed back to Idaho and M and her friend back to Provo.

On our way back to Idaho we saw a vivid full rainbow. Very pretty. As soon as we got to the Lloyd house I went right to sleep. Its funny how car rides will just tire you right out.

The next day we had french toast breakfast! Yay hot breakfast! Then during conference Momma Lloyd, K and I broke out the crafts (stamping stuff) and we used our creativity as all the boys were all comfy on the couches.

Sunday a.m. highlights:

• I liked that President Monson repeated a story that i’ve liked about the jewish asking “what do we do about the light in their eyes” when talking about the BYU students complying with the non- proselyting rule.
• I liked hearing from the 3 new apostles and seeing their humility in accepting this new calling.
• I also was touched by President Nelson’s talk about the importance of women (he quoted one of my favorite quotes by Pres. Kimball).
• “True disciples desire to inspire” (Elder Gregory A. Schwitzer).

Between sessions I got a personal trumpet and piano concert by Sheldon and his mom with some christmas songs. We did burgers/ dogs for lunch. Pretty good.

Sunday p.m. highlights:

• I remember thinking that “ponderizing” isn’t a real word but i like the concept to have a weekly scripture quote to live by and memorize. (Devin G. Durrant).
• “Don’t be too critical of the barrier… It’s the only thing that’s keeping you from being devoured.” is a powerful image that Elder Von G. Keetch shared about keeping the commandments.
• I liked Elder Allen D. Haynie comparison of not being able to enter his grandmother’s house with dirty shoes, to not being able to enter heaven as an unclean person. He related it all to repentance and the need for a Savior.

I have to say that I was a little disappointed that they didn’t have native speakers speak this time, but I’m sure translations process for that is a lot harder to do on the spot.

Overall, I really enjoyed conference, the different thoughts from our leaders were defiantly inspired for our day. There weren’t any major themes like there were in last conference but a little taste of many topics. I liked it, as always.

We headed back to rexburg that evening and made it no problem, no traffic. Sheldon and I together put on probably 600 miles this weekend. I kinda like my road trip buddy.

(What road trips are really like….. click here for an extra laugh.)