Join Me!

Next weekend is the 189th General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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I am grateful that every 6 months we gather together as an entire church and receive counsel from our leaders. Since there are millions of members throughout the entire world, we don't physically meet together. Instead our normal Sunday meetings are cancelled and we are invited to watch the four general sessions over the weekend in a wide variety of ways. Jonathan and I prefer to stream it live at home.

Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking about when President Russell M. Nelson came to San Antonio and we were able to hear his counsel, along with other leaders and their wives, for those of us that live in the area. It's hard not to feel valued when the prophet, who travels all over the world chooses to come to your area and talk to you.

It was a wonderful experience. President Nelson specifically asked that the girls and boys from ages 16 to 18 sit on the floor of the stadium directly in front of him. It was powerful to be with so many other people that wanted to hear the words of our prophet. One of the most powerful parts of the evening was when Sister Wendy Nelson shared her testimony of her husband's calling to be the prophet on the Earth today. She has seen and felt a distinct change in him from how he teaches to how frequently he receives revelation to appearing younger as he is speaking to a crowd. I may not see all that Sister Nelson does, but I am certain that President Russell M. Nelson is the Lord's chosen prophet today. He is helping us become better disciples of Jesus Christ by seeing the good that is already there and then inviting us to be better.

I kept remembering when I was a little kid and we went to Arco Arena
when President Gordon B. Hinckley came for a similar visit.

I planning on taking this week to make sure I am prepared for General Conference next week. I am going to review some more talks and write down questions that I need answers to. I love taking notes while listening to General Conference and often find that the speaker is directly answering my questions. Here are some more ideas on how to prepare for General Conference.

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I truly hope you will join me. It is a lot of time, but even if you can only spare a few minutes to listen you will be blessed.

What a Month! February Edition

February was one crazy month. It ended up having a family wedding, a few birthdays, our anniversary, my grandpa dying, along with our normal everyday lives. Let's start at the beginning of the month though!

We landed in California the previous day for Thomas and Morghan's wedding. It was a lovely wedding and I loved being able to catch up with so many family members and friends that day.

The happy couple!

The following day (I didn't take any pictures), we saw Amy & Mike's new house and spend time with their kids. We ended up visiting with my grandpa and it was a bit startling to see how much he changed since I saw him in December. It was like he was a totally different person. Anyway, I was able to report back to him that I was following the advice he gave me back in December. He was relieved to hear that and reiterated his belief in me. Jonathan spent the evening with his family and I spent the evening with Andy's kids since we hadn't seen them up to that point. Kyle was particularly wanted to hang out and play games with me. We played some checkers and Lyla joined in when we were playing Mario Party. I assured them that they would see both me and Jonathan in the summer, but I ended up coming back to California in March.

Our flight home was filled with wonderful views like this one. We got home and back to normal life. With the wedding and our anniversary coming up, I had a quote stuck in my head and decided to get it up on our wall.

I love the way my marriage with Jonathan works. It has given our individual lives a strong foundation for us to pursue our dreams and our dreams pull us closer together. Jonathan's goals and dreams have become mine and my goals and dreams have become his. Now I can't make all of his dreams come true. He still needs to put in the work and effort, but I can find ways to assist him and the same is true for my dreams. We've made some big and terrifying jumps together and they didn't really work until we truly held on to each other and allowed ourselves to be 100% open and vulnerable. I honestly believe that is why there was no hesitation from either one of us about moving to Texas. We had already gone through experiences that could have broken us and honestly were breaking us as individuals. The only thing that stopped that outcome was that we opened up and were vulnerable. It was hard, but it brought us so close to one another. When the opportunity to move to Texas came along, we felt good about it and knew that we could overcome any challenge that came with it because we could trust each other.

Texas sunsets are gorgeous 99.99% of the time.

Before leaving California, I told Kyle we would FaceTime with him on his birthday. Thankfully he forgave us and we ended up FaceTiming a few days later.

I didn't take any pictures of our Valentine's Day meal, but here are the remnants of it. I may only use the heart-shaped pans once a year, but they are fantastic. In previous years they've held desserts, but this year it was cornbread to go with some delicious chili.

The weather in Texas has been so mild this February that I didn't want the month to end. We had our delicious tacos on the patio wearing shorts and t-shirts.

The week before my grandpa died, Jonathan and I went to the San Antonio Temple. I love being in the temple and how it helps me shift my perspective from what I'm concerned about in the short term to what truly matters. When I feel like I'm not enough, the spirit within the temple reminds me that I am priceless as I am today and I am capable of so much more in the future if I continue on the covenant path. For me, the temple is an empowering experience and I need it in my life.

The following Saturday, my grandpa died. I was working hard to catch up on my homework, so I wasn't really able to process all of my emotions. By Sunday morning though, I was able to figure out what I was feeling. Here's what I shared with others.

I honestly haven't felt sad about my grandpa's death. Sure I've gotten emotional and shed a few tears, but it hasn't been out of heartache or regret or anything like that. I was able to be with my grandpa twice in the three months that led up to his death. He gave me sound advice that while he was focused on a single subject was given broadly enough that I will be able to use it daily and I was able to report back to him at the beginning of February that I was following through with his advice. I am so grateful that I took those opportunities to be with him or I might have some regrets and feel sad, but I am so happy that he is now with my grandma. They spent over thirty years apart and I have a feeling they have been talking nonstop for the past few weeks catching each other up on what they've been up to and all about the family.

A couple of days later, we celebrated our anniversary. It started out with us keeping the romance very much alive by getting a new car battery. Jonathan took the day off of work and when it was time for me to go to school the car wouldn't turn over. I ended up taking an Uber to school while Jonathan took care of getting the battery charged enough to make it Auto Zone for a new one. He picked me up from school and we went out to dinner. Much like last year, I ended up having the most tender steak around! Before going home, we ended up stopping off at Fry's Electronics to buy our own Nintendo DSs! Didn't you know that the eighth anniversary is the Nintendo anniversary? Okay, it isn't really, but for us it is. In all of our years of marriage, we haven't owned any sort of gaming console even though we both really enjoy playing video games. Jonathan beat me at Mario Kart, but I beat him at Star Fox so you can say we are pretty evenly matched. When I've told family members about our anniversary present, they all agree that Jonathan and I are perfect for one another. I have to agree!

At some point during the week, I decided to fly to California for my third time in three months. I had been debating about staying home and honoring Grandpa by focusing on my schoolwork, but ultimately I felt strongly that I should be around my family. Clearly that was the best choice.

Looking Back on January

Here are some highlights from last month that I want to remember.

January started out strong with me getting yet another cold. Boo! Thankfully, Jonathan is very sweet and takes good care of me. We recently watched You've Got Mail and so I requested that he bring home flowers. Since I can be really picky when it comes to flowers, he sent a picture so I could pick out which ones I wanted.

He got me the cute little purply pink ones.

Jonathan also kept me well stocked up on soup. FYI the Campbell's homemade chicken noodle tastes way better than their normal chicken noodle.

By the following week, I finally started feeling better so we went to the temple. We keep going to the Houston Temple even though we should be going to the San Antonio Temple. It's because we aren't good at planning ahead of time. The San Antonio Temple is a smaller temple like the Sacramento Temple, but they like to have you call ahead and schedule which session you are going to attend. It's a bit too far for us to get down there on a week night thanks to traffic, so we go on Saturdays. We usually don't call the temple until Saturday morning and all the session are already filled. We then go to the Houston Temple because it is a larger temple and it's a first come first served style when it comes to doing various ordinances. Eventually, we will get on the ball with planning ahead and actually attend the temple we are assigned to.

Anyways, it was a lovely drive since there's been plenty of rain so the Texas countryside is green. I love being in the temple. It brings so much peace into my life and helps me get refocused on what truly matters.

Jonathan broke in his new suit that he got for his brother's wedding.
Part of me wishes he would get rid of the rest of his clothes and wear suits every day.

The following night was a super blood wolf moon. No, I did not make that up nor did a small child. It's called that because there were a number of different things happening that night. It was a super moon because it was at it's closet point in it's orbit around the earth. It was a blood moon because it was a total lunar eclipse. It was a wolf moon because it was the first full moon of the new year. Jonathan and I got out our trusty camera and took some pictures of it. It was really cool to watch the moon seemingly change right in front of our eyes.

If you look hard you can see a tiny sliver of the moon.
This picture was taken at the same exposure as the previous picture.

Then we changed the exposure and that's when you can start seeing the blood red color.
A small part of the moon is still in the sunlight.

A few minutes later, it was completely in the shadow of the Earth.

 Apparently Monday was feeling jealous of all the cool stuff we did the previous days and so it threw a curve ball at us. As we were getting ready for bed and discussing our plans for tomorrow, we heard a weird noise. We stopped talking because it sounded like there was water but not how it usually sounds. Jonathan investigated and saw water coming down the wall by our laundry area.

 Thankfully, I had just done a load of towels, but hadn't put them away yet. We pulled out the towels and grabbed a cup to catch what water was dripping in the doorway. Jonathan called the maintenance team while he headed upstairs to tell our neighbor. He knocked on the neighbor's door and as Jonathan heard him walking to answer it he heard splashing and the neighbor say, "Oh crap!" Apparently, didn't realize his washing machine was flooding his apartment.

  

There was a rather large puddle forming next to our washing machine and the only way to get to it without getting wet involved climbing on top of it.

Within 10 minutes, our maintenance guy was on the scene seeing all that happened. He said that his crew would be ready tomorrow to take care of fixing the damage.

This is how the wall looked after the water stopped.

The next morning, they came out and fixed the wall up in less than an hour. I was doing my morning scripture study during the same time and they finished up way before I was done.

It was only 13 hours before that the water initially was dripping down the wall and now it was wet with a fresh coat of paint. It times like these that I have no problem being a renter.

Later that same day, I had my first day of school. I'm starting to zero in on what I want to study thanks to some solid advice I got from my grandpa back in December. I'm still not ready to declare anything, but I am feeling more confident and like I am nearing the right path for me.

It was a grey day, but it was a very good day for me!

 That weekend, I walked down to my friend Liza's apartment to take pictures of her and her cat for her Valentine's cards. It has become a really fun tradition that I enjoy. Her cat was in no mood for pictures and that just made it even funnier.

The month wasn't complete without Jonathan also getting a cold and then him kindly sharing it with me. Jonathan tried to convince me to stay home from school, but we were going to be flying to California during my next class so I went anyway. 

On the last day of January, we flew out to California for Thomas and Morghan's wedding. While we were walking through the Austin airport, I spotted an ad with Stoffel Vandoorne's McLaren. Yes, I recognized immediatley that it was Stoffel and not his teammate. Yes, I love Formula 1. And yes, I can't wait for the new season starting in March.

I love how that orange car looks!

A few hours later, we were in California and eating at Chevy's.

January was a really good month with some good changes and too many colds.

Best of '18

I make plans to be consistent with blogging, but inevitably life happens. Instead of giving up, I'll keep going from where I'm at! Here's a few highlights of our 2018.

January:

We explored the Market Square in San Antonio.

We had a frozen day in Austin. Most everything was shut down because
Austin has hardly any equipment for dealing with ice.

February:

We explored the University of Texas campus here in Austin.

This is a small portion of the football stadium. Yes, everything is bigger in Texas.

We celebrated our anniversary in College Station.

March:

We celebrated Jonathan's first day of work at Home
Depot with delicious tacos.

We found blue bonnets!!!

April:

I still can't believe that I've actually been to Europe.

A cute little side canal in Amsterdam. 

We visited Begijnhof in Brugge.

This was the view of Brugge right outside of where we were staying.

A view of Venice.

The Duomo in Florence.

We had a beautiful day in Vernazza.

We finished off our whirlwind tour in Rome.

May:

The cacti were in bloom.

We found the perfect beach.

We finally explored Fredericksburg.

June:

I finally hung up some pictures.

We visited the museum at Camp Mabry here in Austin.

We didn't eat enough delicious Texas peaches.

July

These two ran us up and down the length of Texas!

August:

We went to Family Fun Day with Home Depot!

We enjoyed a Round Rock Express baseball game.

We celebrated our 15th half-iversary.

September:

We found where all the cowboys get their boots.

We explored the new downtown Austin library.

We tried Top Golf with my cousin David and his friends.

October:

We watched General Conference with the missionaries.

We bought Jonathan a second bike after his first one was
stolen. The second bike is still in our possession.

We took a trip to the Houston Temple.

We celebrated Jonathan's birthday in Florence, Texas.

November:

We went to our first hockey game with friends from work.

For Jonathan's birthday trip, we went down to Houston.

This is a working model of the International Space Station.

We got to go inside both the airplane and the shuttle.

We visited the 1940 Air Terminal Museum in Houston.

President Nelson came all the way to San Antonio to speak to us.

We found an amazing view of the skyline with fall colors.

December:

Jonathan and I found a delicious cheese store.

The Home Depot Christmas Party involved bowling and playing pool.

 I went on a last minute trip to California.

I was there for my grandpa's 90th birthday.

I also went to say goodbye to Ginny. She was my
grandpa's girlfriend for 16 years and she truly was
a grandma to all of us even though she had her own family.

I also was able to see Lyla perform in the Nutcracker!

Ryan is now officially taller than me. I still can't believe it!

We saw the Christmas lights in Georgetown, Texas.

We decorated with our presents. It was a bad idea because I didn't want to open them.

I finished reading The Book of Mormon.

It was a wild year with many unexpected twists and turns. I don't know what this year will have in store, but I can't wait to find out!