6 weeks!!

I just wanted to take a minute to inform everyone that in exactly 6 weeks I will getting married to my very best friend in the entire world. I couldn't be happier! August 21, 2009 is going to be the absolute greatest day of my life!

Happy Father's Day

To put it simply, I have the most amazing dad. How did I get so lucky?

I love my dad so very much. He is such a great example to me and my brothers. I know that he loves his wife and children more than anything.

When Braden and I were younger, my dad started this little tradition called "20 minutes." Everyday, he would spend time with both of us, individually, for 20 minutes. He would do whatever we wanted. I remembered playing Barbies and Polly Pockets with him numerous times. I'm sure he would've much preferred to do something else, but he played with me anyway because he loved me.

My dad has always been great at helping with homework, particularly with papers we have to write. I know I didn't always appreciate it (many homework sessions ended in tears), but he really helped me. He pushed me farther than I would have pushed myself. Now that I'm away at school, I've realized that I am a much better writer than I would have been otherwise. I've noticed that Braden is now going through the same thing I did (but without the tears). I'm sure that with time, Braden will realize that my dad really does know what he's talking about, just like I did.

Dad thought it was important for me to memorize things. He put together a "memorization box" for me and almost ever day we spent time memorizing. By the time I was 6 years old, I had already memorized all 13 Articles of Faith, as well as President Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address." I didn't always have fun memorizing, but I'm glad he had me exercise my mind in this way.

I'm so grateful that my dad has always been there for me. When I'm away at school, I know that he's always just a phone call away. He's told me many times that he and my family are praying for me. It's such a comfort to know that I have him to rely on.

I was going through some old pictures the other day, and I found a few of Dad and I. I thought it'd be fun to share them.

Dad & I- the day I came home from the hospital. (2 months old)

At the Hogle Zoo. (1-1/2 years old)

Dad carrying me after a long day at Disney Land. (4 years old)

Goofing off. (7 years old)

Just chillin'. (9 years old)

Happy Father's Day!

I Love to See the Temple

I love my drive home from work on Thursdays. I drop off Ben (the boy I babysit) at his soccer practice and then I drive past the Houston Temple. I suppose there are faster ways to get home, but I love looking at this magnificent building.

(For those of you who don't know what a temple is, here is the definition I found on my Church's website, lds.org (click on the link for more information on temples):

"Temples are literally houses of the Lord. They are holy places of worship where individuals make sacred covenants with God. Because making covenants with God is such a solemn responsibility, individuals cannot enter the temple to receive their endowments or be sealed in marriage for eternity until they have fully prepared themselves and been members of the Church for at least a year. Throughout history, the Lord has commanded His people to build temples. The Church is working to build temples all over the world to make temple blessings more available for a greater number of Heavenly Father's children.")

Anyway, on my drive home today, I happened to get a red light at the intersection where the temple is. I didn't mind much, because it gave me more time to think about the temple. I am so excited to go to this temple in just a couple of months. I'll have the opportunity to receive my endowments, and then two days later, be married for eternity to the love of my life.

I am so grateful that I am blessed to live so close to a temple (both here in Houston, and in Provo). Temples provide so many opportunities to serve others and to receive blessings for ourselves. I know that many times, I have received answers to my prayers when I go to the temple, even when I'm just walking around the temple grounds.

The Primary song, I Love to See the Temple, completely describes my feelings.

I love to see the temple.
I'm going there someday
To feel the Holy Spirit,
To listen and to pray.
For the temple is a house of God,
A place of love and beauty.
I'll prepare myself while I am young;
This is my sacred duty.

I love to see the temple.
I'll go inside someday.
I'll covenant with my Father;
I'll promise to obey.
For the temple is a holy place
Where we are sealed together.
As a child of God, I've learned this truth:
A family is forever.

a happy thought

As I was getting ready for the day this morning, I listened to a General Conference talk. This one was from April 2006 by Jeffrey R. Holland. It was entitled Broken Things to Mend. I love this talk. The entire thing is so great.

One part of it struck me. Elder Holland said, "In short we must repent, perhaps the most hopeful and encouraging word in the Christian vocabulary." The most hopeful and encouraging word. How cool! And it is so true.

Repentance is amazing. I don't know where any of us would be without it. So many times I try and try, but I continuously fall short. Thankfully, our loving Heavenly Father understood that this would be the case.

Elder Holland continued by saying, "We thank our Father in Heaven we are allowed to change, we thank Jesus we can change, and ultimately we do so only with Their divine assistance. . . . In this way our access to the Savior’s Atonement becomes as unimpeded as we, with our imperfections, can make it. He will take it from there."

What a comforting promise!

"Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God." (Moroni 10:32)



If you want to read the talk, here is the link:
Broken Things to Mend

There's No Place Like Home

Well, I'm finally getting back to this blog business. I am so bad at updating! It's not like anyone actually reads it, though. Anyway, I finished off the semester (finals went quite well, considering I was so horribly sick!). I'm half-way done with college. Weird!!

Mom came up to Utah for a couple of weeks. It was great to spend time with her, although I was kinda in a bad mood for a lot of it. I'm pretty sure the reason was because J.J. left for Oregon. Prior to him leaving for the summer, the longest we had ever been apart was a week. It was so hard to drop him off at the airport. I was quite tempted to kidnap him and not let him leave!! Even though I miss him so much, it's good that he went home. J.J. has a great job and is raking in the dough. He is working as a human resources assistant for OCDC (Oregon Child Development Coalition). One of the great things about the job is that he gets to utilize his Spanish speaking abilities quite often. It's so great to hear how excited he is whenever he gets to translate or just speak to someone in Spanish.

After we had been apart for an entire month, J.J. came for a visit. On Memorial Day, my dad took our engagement pictures. Not to be biased or anything, but I think they turned out great! Dad did a fantastic job, and of course any picture of J.J. and I looks fantastic (haha!).

For the last few years, I've gotten strep throat and other sore throat viruses quite often. My mom finally decided to was time for me to get my tonsils taken out. In the middle of May, I had surgery for the first time. Let me tell you, that anesthesia is pretty cool stuff. I just remember giggling randomly as they wheeled me away to the operating room. I had my tonsils and adenoids taken out. Recovery took about 2 weeks and was quite painful, but I'm all better now!

It's been great to be back in the Tomball Ward. I've definitely missed it the past couple of years. The first Sunday back, I was extended a calling. I am a Primary teacher. I co-teach one of the 9-10 yr old classes. They needed another teacher because one of the girls needs some extra help because she is autistic. I really like my class. I've taught a couple of times and just absolutely loved it. Maybe it is a good thing I'm majoring in Elementary Education.

I told you about J.J.'s job...maybe I should mention mine. It's definitely not as cool as his, but it works. I'm babysitting a 9 yr old boy named Ben pretty much everyday of the summer. Some weeks I work more hours than others because he does a lot of day camps or church activities. I get a lot of time off as well, which has its pros and cons. It's nice to have a chance to rest and get other stuff done, but I also need to work as much as I can. That's pretty much the point of this summer...save money before we get married!

I guess that's about it. I tried posting some pictures, but for some reason it wasn't working. Here are a couple of links so you can see some pictures.

J.J.'s blog post w/ engagement pictures


Facebook album of engagement pictures

Facebook photo album of pictures from the summer

ugh

Finals are never fun. Finals plus being sick is ever so much worse.

That's right. I'm sick. And it's finals week.

I started getting sick on Friday and it's gotten worse since. I took an exam on Saturday which did not go too well because I was concentrating on not passing out. I ended up going to the doctor's office on Sunday (after the first hour of church during which J.J. gave an amazing talk on prayer). They did the fast strep test which came back negative. However, the doctor took pity on me because my throat looked so bad (and I'm sure I didn't look too much better myself), and he gave me the antibiotics anyway. They're doing another strep test that takes longer, but is more accurate. I should hear back sometime soon.

Well, I've been taking the antibiotics, gargling salt water, drinking lots of water and other fluids, eating soup, trying to sleep, and everything else they tell you to do when you're sick. But it's not working!! I'm pretty sure I don't have strep due to the fact that the prescription isn't helping much. I guess I have some nasty virus that will just have to run it's course. Ew.

Tomorrow is the last day of finals. I'm just going to have to suck it up and take my last two. Hopefully I'll do okay..

I am so grateful for my absolutely amazing fiance. He has been taking such good care of me the past few days. He refills my water bottle, makes me soup, gives me foot massages, buys me apple juice, and so many more things. I am so tremendously lucky. Even though he probably feels like he's not "curing" me, he is helping so much. It means so much to just have someone around that cares. The moral of this story is, I am marrying the greatest guy in the world (and we're getting married in exactly 4 months today, to be precise). So, sorry everybody... I beat you to him!!

Stuffsez

So last time I posted, it was sometime in February. Since then, I have been engaged for almost 2 months (tomorrow will be 2 months!), almost made it through my 4th semester at BYU, had a Bridal Shower, and well...just life.

Oh, and I guess I promised pictures from the proposal in one of my last posts. Oops! Since it'll take too long to post individually, I'll link facebook album to this.

He Proposed!!


The weekend J.J. proposed, we went to Oregon to visit his family. It was my first time to visit and I had so much fun!! Here are a few pictures from that weekend.

A view of his house
J.J. in front of his old high school
pretty!!
a beautiful sunset at his house
milkshakes at Burgerville...so yummy!!

J.J. and I babysat some of my little cousins and to repay us (which they didn't have to do-those kids are so well-behaved and so much fun!), my aunt and uncle gave us a gift card to Macaroni Grill. We decided to make a fancy date out of it...complete with dressing up!

J.J. drew this on the table at the restaurant...it's us if you can't tell

Since last June, J.J. has been working at the BYU Multicultural Student Services office. Part of his responsibilities there have been to organize the BYU Fiesta. It's program they do every year to celebrate Latin American cultures. Volunteers spend hours and hours learning dances from the different Latin American countries. It was a lot of hard work and could be very frustrating, but it ended up being a great success!! (See J.J.'s blog for more about the Fiesta.) One great thing about Fiesta was that some of his family came to visit. His mom (Robin), his sister (and one of my bridesmaids-Kandis), and his Grandma Till. It was the first time I met his grandma. It was so great to see everyone. His cousin Stacia (and ironically one of my Physical Science TAs) also came to see Fiesta with us.

me, Kandis, Robin
me and Kandis

Grandma Till and Stacia
Stacia and Kandis
J.J. He was working during Fiesta-sound and lighting, etc.

I have a WEDDING DRESS!!! Wow! It's so crazy! Last month, I went shopping with a couple of my aunts. It was so much fun. And I found the PERFECT dress! It's beautiful and I actually look good in it too! ;) Basically, I couldn't be happier with it. Obviously I'm not posting pictures of it on here because a certain person is NOT allowed to see it before August 21 (I'm talking about my fiance if you couldn't figure that out). But if you really want to see it, I can email pictures to you (on the condition that you will not let J.J. see them).