I Can't Believe It's August....

Seriously, we are in the second-heading into third week of August. Before we know it school will be starting and I will have no time for anything. Luckily I have been able to do some pretty neat things this past month:

Peaks with the Border family

SeaWorld

Please note that Tina is a chicken... haha. She's gonna kill me.

Ignore my best friend's amazing flexibility, this is supposed to remind me of Softball with the Vikings.

Empanadas in Vegas :) 

My AMAZING invention. "Shhh, I'm brilliant" 

my puppy, Underdog 

And of course, Iceblocking

Not to mention some great times with my dear buddy Amy... If only we had taken pictures... Oh wait, we did. Saran Wrap is an awesome addition to any adventure...

Ope,  lets not forget an amazing season of So You Think You Can Dance. Nat, Tina and I have spent all season catching up on recorded episodes. We closed the season with lots of tears and an ecstatic heart! Yaay Melanie!

Speaking of dance... I don't think I brag about Nat enough, or maybe I do, but there is a good reason why. I have never met anyone who works as hard as she does. Dance is her passion and boy is she good at it. She has been going to some classes at UVU this summer and I have had the privilege of coming along and watching. This last week however, I was caught sitting in.. After quite a bit of prodding I reluctantly joined in and learned this:

I know its dark but the lights were off, sorry.. I have a new appreciation for this form of art, I am also very aware that I am NOT a dancer. Never will be. But I'm okay with that, I had a LOT of fun. I am excited to see Nat progress this school year, she never disappoints.

(p.s. Extra points if you can pick out Nat in the video)

So, here's to an incredible summer! I'm ready to finish it out strong and prepare myself for another school year. Have a lovely weekend!

Sometimes we forget...

"The more displeased we are with our efforts, the less we feel capable of pleasing the Lord, and the less inclined we are to step toward Him when He calls. As we cling to our failures, we lose faith in His desire to rescue us from the storm. We choose instead to drift further into the night. Focusing on negative past experiences, we put ourselves out of His reach....

"Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ do not withhold healing light, but sometimes we become too 'Hardened'- especially hard on ourselves- to accept it. When caught in the darkness of disappointment, little do we remember the true nature of so many mortal failings. They can be stepping-stones put in place by a loving God, pointing toward future success. They provide perfecting exercises in faith and patience, and they offer opportunities to repent and become new. Sometimes failure is the blessing itself as we are privileged to make sacrifices. No matter the reason, some failure is necessary. Never slipping, sinking, nor fumbling on earth was Lucifer's plan. WE chose the Lord's...

"Daybreak awaits as we come to observe our failures in a new light- the merciful, instructive light of God. May we draw closer to Him in the process, accepting His extended, rescuing hand."

50%

I have come to the conclusion of a few things today...

First: Sunday is the blogging day for me.

B: Mom will ALWAYS, without fail keep the house at a solid 80 degrees when you're taking a nap, 

be prepared to wake up with your blanket on the floor cause its so dang hot...

III: Never teach a Young Women's lesson in ways that will make the girls competitive... 

It doesn't end well for the teacher. They will remember the cookies but not your lesson.
I am at 50% with my lessons... half good, half bad. Not good...

Fourth: Never take your mother for granted... Even if she makes the house and oven....

With that said, let me tell you why I forget the great worth of mothers.... It has been a very, very long time since the last time I was asked to babysit anyone but my sister. So long in fact, that I don't remember who it was or if it actually happened. Sister R from the Young Women's called me up to see if I could babysit her 18 month old while she and her husband go see the Harry Potter movie. She informed me that he would be  asleep by the time I got there so it wouldn't be much of a problem. I didn't have to think about it much since it sounded so easy so I agreed... Little Beckett was most certainly not asleep when I got there. I let him babble for half an hour before I decided to give him a bottle to help settle him down...

BAD idea. He had no idea who I was, he started to scream and cry.. "Great," I thought, "What am I supposed to do now?". To make a very long story short I held him most of the night trying to get him to sleep... 45 minutes before his parents got home that little bugger finally fell asleep. I walked away with puke on my shirt and a bruised ego.. but other than that I loved it.

How does this relate to my mother? Well besides the obvious reason of being a mother, I was ten times worse than Beckett as a baby. So bad that my mom held me half the night and my grandma held me the other half... No matter what they did or how many hymns they sung I wouldn't stop crying. 19 years later.... I'm falling asleep EVERYWHERE. Not to mention the uncontrollable yawning that comes when I hear "I am a child of God.." *and yes, I did just yawn while typing that...* My mom and my grandma sang that for the longest time trying to get me to sleep, it apparently left a mark... I am grateful for mothers. I know I should have probably left this for mother's day next year but hey, by the time my mom reads this it probably will be.

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I feel like this post will not be complete without some kind of picture.... 

There we go, that should do it. I have a slight obsession with owls... get over it. Maybe it'll help me seem more wise. or something like that. 

New Calling, New Lessons

Well, not that anyone has noticed but I have been quite absent.... This posting thing really went down the drain fast. 

I finally got to cross off "Go on a road trip" from my life goal list this month so that was nice. I spent one glorious saturday in Moab with some of my favorite girls. We left at 4:30 in the morning and started hiking around 8:30 or 9. We got to see Delicate Arch, SandDune Arch, Broken Arch and Balanced Rock. We were too tired to do the Windows but we drove by and saw them for a few minutes before lunch. By the time we had our picnic we were *exhausted*, after an hour nap we were ready to go look at the little shops and head home. 

   

It was fun spending time with the girls. We stopped at a gas station on the way home and had a blast eating dinner, telling jokes and spewing drinks out of our noses. If only we could make this a yearly trip... Maybe we will :) 

________

A few weeks before going to Moab I was informed I would be receiving a new calling. At first I was a little nervous just because I had no idea where they were going to call me but Sister R (from the Young Women's) kind of let it slide that they were the ones that put in my name to be considered for the calling. Sure enough, the next Sunday I had an interview with the bishop and I got called as a Mia Maid teacher. Working with the youth of the church has been a dream of mine since I started in the Young Women organization. I was blessed with the most amazing teachers throughout those critical years, it is because of them that I teach and care the way I do. I can only pray to make the difference they did in my life.

My first lesson was lesson 27: Forgiving Ourselves. I had heard many people talk about how lessons usually hit the teacher most but I had never experienced it. This lesson however, taught me how important it is to not only forgive others but ourselves as well. I think it is something that we struggle with the most. I had a couple demonstrations to help get the idea across to the girls, but it was the quotes and scriptures provided that opened up my eyes. Now, if you don't mind I would like to use a couple of quotes and parts of the lesson that hit me the hardest. 

One of the discussion questions read: 

Why would Satan have us believe that we have sinned beyond hope of forgiveness?

The manual gives the answer of:

Then we will not repent, and we will sin more and more.

Simple, yet very true. Satan has HUGE power over us, BUT only if we allow him to. He likes to creep into our thoughts to influence our actions. Once we believe that our sin is too severe to be forgiven we forget about the power of the repentance process. We forget that we all get second and third chances. The Lord will not leave us alone, so long as we are willing to change, of course. 

President Spencer W. Kimball explained this a little more when he said: "Sometimes a guilty consciousness overpowers a person with such a heaviness that when a repentant one looks back and sees the ugliness, the loathsomeness of the transgression, he is almost overwhelmed and wonders, 'Can the Lord ever forgive me? Can I ever forgive myself?' But when one reaches the depths of despondency and feels the hopelessness of his position, and when he cries out to God for mercy in helplessness but in faith, there comes a still, small, but penetrating voice whispering to his soul, 'Thy sins are forgiven thee'." -The Miracle of Forgiveness

(Side note: I dont know if any of you have read The Miracle of Forgiveness, but I definitely recommend it.)

How glorious it is to know that we will be forgiven. How scary it is to know that it depends on if we have  a pure desire to do so...

President Harold B. Lee Taught:

"If the time comes when you have done all that you can to repent of your sins, whoever you are, wherever you are,.... then you will want that confirming answer as to whether or not the Lord has accepted of you. In your soul-searching, if you seek for and you find that peace of conscience, by that token you may know that the Lord has accepted your repentance. Satan would have you think otherwise and sometimes persuade you that now having made on mistake, you might go on and on with no turning back. That is one of the great falsehoods. The miracle of forgiveness is available to all of those who turn from their evil doings and return no more" (Harold B. Lee, in Conference Report, Apr. 1973)

"...available to all of those who turn from their evil doings and return no more." I found this to be the key. True repentance means we turn away COMPLETELY. Not partially, not for a week or so... but "return no more". This has proven to be the hardest part for me. 

The manual provides a story told by Elder Sterling W. Sill that shows us just how important it is to forgive ourselves.

"Sometime ago I talked with a woman 53 years of age who had committed a moral transgression at the age of 18. She understood that her sin was very serious, but because she had repented a thousand times we can depend on the Lord's promise that he had forgiven her. But she had never forgiven herself. Because she felt unclean and inferior, she withdrew from her friends, refused to marry, and became a kind of social and spiritual recluse. For 35 years she downgraded herself with bitter regrets and accusations. her life of looking back upon her sin has turned into something far below the wonderful person that God intended her to be. Her sin at age 18 was very serious. But for 35 years she has been adding to her sin by wasting the most valuable thing in the world, which is a splendid human life"

Why is it so hard to forgive ourselves? Why is it that we focus so much on the things we do wrong instead of the things we do right? Much like this woman, we hold on to things for years and years. We have a promise that if we repent we will be forgiven and our sins will be forgotten. Let us remember this promise and start living a righteous life today. 

This is what I whole heartedly believe. I know I am not perfect, I make mistakes just like everyone else does- and probably ten times worse- but I refuse to give up. My testimony has grown because of my experiences. I cannot regret, I simply learn, repent and move on. I pray we can all do the same. 

_______

Well, now that I am off my soap box, I don't think very many of you made it through this whole thing... I still have one more lesson to catch up on but that will have to wait for another day... Maybe tomorrow. 

(A final [random] side note: The Winnie the Pooh movie was very very cute... that is all. Goodnight) 

(Insert a catchy title here...)

So... Basically another month went by without a post. Man, I am so good at this. I couldn't even come up with a title for this post. Good heavens.

Anywho, June just started and I have had so much fun. I can say we are on our way to crossing off more life and summer goals before school gets in the way of it all. Amy, Nat and I have planned a trip to Moab! A slight delay but it looks like July will finally work for all of us. Tina has been dying to go and I am sure Maddie has too, this month better fly by, I don't know how much longer we can wait!

I took advantage of the all the wind at the beginning of the month to take Nat, her sisters and Tina on a little kite trip. Abner and I tried last month but we were not sufficiently prepared... This time I came with tape and a lot more faith, haha. We reinforced our kites and they took off! Okay, only for a few seconds at a time but it was still fun. It was great to see these guys running with their kites. So cute! Maddie's kite was the first to break, then Tina's, then mine.... and so on. Nat's was the only kite that survived the "hurricane force Utah winds.."

 

After a while we gave up on our kites and enjoyed the warm weather. Maddie and I Lax-ed it up while Nat, Chloe and Tina worked on their hand stands and cartwheels... 

**Fast forward a week or so...**

Valerie's birthday was on Friday! I love that little rascal. She is now 5 years old and cute as can be! I made a quick stop at the store and picked up some balloons and a giant bubble wand for her. Tina and I delivered it and played with her for a while before going out to lunch at one of her favorite places, BurgerKing!

                            

Saturday was little Angela's birthday, I can't believe it. She is getting so big. I remember when Angelica was pregnant with her, I also remember how much she hated me when she was little, haha. We had a joint birthday party for Angela and Valerie. Angela's theme was Tangled and Valerie had a Hawaiian theme. We played games and ate two cakes! I love these little girls.

 Moral of the story: Adults have more fun on these things than kids do. It's a proven fact. 

 The birthday Girls

Oh, and last but certainly not least: Summerfest!! Another item crossed off Nat's list... However, she added another one: Ride a carousel... We have so many things to get done this summer!

P.s. A little shout-out to Sister Sara Donakey! Welcome home, the Philippines is a lonely place without you!

Brick By Brick- Train

This week has gone by pretty fast and I don't really know why. I feel like the hours go by slow but the days just fly by.... (does that make ANY sense at all?...) I had to work Monday and Tuesday, maybe that's why the hours seemed to go by so dang slowly. However, I was very happy to finally be home, nothing beats the feeling of sleeping in your own bed. I made dinner Monday night, thanks to Leandra Stromberg's casserole recipe it's one of the few casseroles I actually really enjoy..

Tuesday I went on a date to Nickle City with Abner and some of his friends. We had a lot of fun trying to get enough tickets to get fake moustaches, those came in handy Wednesday after Tina's incredible choir concert at Orem Junior...

I am quite impressed as to how far they have come from the beginning of the school year. Way to go OJH! Being inside that school brings back so many memories, both good at bad. And apparently it makes me act just like I used to in Jr. High... I was a bit of a snot to the janitor that asked Natalie and I to head back to the commons.. Oh man, I was so embarrassed afterwards... I need to stop going there.. After we got all moustached up, we stopped by the Borders to take ice cream orders, then made a quick run to Farr's for ice cream-- in our "Banditos" outfits... Haha. Get ready cause these pictures are Epic.

Natalie didn't have to work on Thursday so we took advantage of that and went out for a morning run. We decided to meet half way at a park here in PG. I have never had so much fun running in the rain, my dog however, was not as happy. Poor Lady got cold on the way back so I had to carry her. Oh, and my shoes hated me... I had fun though, can't wait to run again! My lungs seem to be getting stronger so I will definitely be taking advantage of that and keep working out outdoors instead of at the gym.

**A little shout-out to my aunt Liliana Thompson, happy birthday! They say you shouldn't have favorites when it comes to family... but I say that's bologna, we all have favorites no matter what. This is a great example :) My aunt has been through so much, she is a great example and a wonderful mother. I love youuu!**

_______________________________________________________________________

Yesterday, after picking my sister up from school we got home, turned on the T.V. and Oprah was on. I can honestly say I have never watched a single episode, ever. Something about this particular one caught my attention though. As many people probably know, next Wednesday is her last episode ever. Apparently she's been doing her show for 25 years and has had like a billion people on it (who knew? Not me..). She was going over some of her most memorable reunions and favorite guests on the show, so I left it on for a while just to see who it was... I had no idea I would be crying the whole hour..

The first story was of two sister who miraculously survived the genocide in Rwanda. In 100 days 800,000 men, women and children were killed by machetes... Claire and her younger sister of 6, Clementine, hid in a banana tree while their home burnt down with their grandparents inside... They thought their whole family had died. They spent the next six years in refugee camps, hoping to catch a glimpse of a surviving family member. After a time, an American church brought the girls over to be adopted by foster parents. Years later, Clementine was on the show because of an essay she had written about the book titled "Night" by Elie Wiesel that tells his story of surviving the Holocaust, she wrote about the similarities in her life... Oprah called the sisters up on stage to hand them a letter from their parents... before they could read it, she had another surprise for them... The doors opened and out came the two sisters' parents and siblings... As the sisters rushed to their family after 12 years of separation, I couldn't help but cry. The pure joy and gratitude on their faces was something that cannot be described. They talked about the girl's lives today. Claire is attending Yale University and doing really well despite her initial complications learning the language... She doesn't know exactly what she wants to do with her life when she graduates in 2013, but she knows she wants to help others, help people share their stories of tribulation and how they surpassed their challenges...

The second, and by far the most uplifting story, was of a woman named Erin Kramp. At 36 years old, Erin was dying of breast cancer. She had one daughter, Peyton, only six years old. Whenever Erin had a moment to herself, she would pick up the video camera and record messages for her daughter. She recorded advice from picking out makeup, to how to pick a husband and everywhere in between. She had no idea how long she had left, she still had so many things to teach and tell her daughter. They showed bits and pieces of Erin's recordings, one of them was definitely my favorite. She says:

" I have been up for three hours, in the middle of the night, just thinking about

how much I love you, I couldn't stand it. I couldn't sleep. So finally I decided, I'm just

going to get up and record how much I love Peyton!

Mooore than infinity!"

(she says with arms stretched out)

Six months later, Erin lost her life. She left behind hours and hours of messages for every milestone of her daughter's life.

John, her husband has now remarried and has two kids of his own. Peyton is now at Duke University. Although Peyton only spent six short years with her mother, she knows what kind of mom she had. She knows how hard her mother fought, she knows how much she was loved...

These two stories were uplifting in their own way, however, they both taught me to be grateful. Although we all have challenges, some definitely have it harder than we do. I look at my family and realize how lucky I am to have a mother who not only supports us in all we do, but provides for us above and beyond. The second story help my love and appreciation grow for my mother. Without her, I have no idea where we would be. She is the source of strength in our family. I know I don't show my love for her enough, I can only hope that she knows how much she is loved.

Thank you mom for all you do, you are a great example. I love you.

Through this I realize how important the Plan of Salvation really is. Without it, many people leave this earth and have no idea that they will see their loved ones again. I am thankful to have this knowledge. Erin taught people to live life to the fullest, to not fear death, to embrace it. Oprah said it best:

".... to dying, letting go, and leaving love behind.."

-Oprah

Sneaky Little Camera Cord...

I have wanted to put up a new post for a very very VERY long time now, (just ask Natalie, I have been complaining about it for quite a while..) but that little rascal of a cord has been hiding... I have done sooo much in basically the last month since I posted and it would be too overwhelming to try and catch up with all of it in detail, so here are just a few highlights...

- After what seemed like forever, I finished finals and made it through my first year of college

(feel free to clap.. Thank you, thank you.)

- Helped by best friend move back home!! Celebrated with Modern Family, hehe.

- Helped Maddie accessorize for prom, she looked amazing!

-Made breakfast with Tina for the bestest mom everrrrr!

-A play date with Valerie and Nat to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point! Ahh, so fun.

- Hung out with Abner and learned to not bother with tennis ever again...

-Discovered that Nat's house is further than I thought... Our steady workouts lasted a week. Haha.

- Worked my butt off at Vox with some of the coolest people ever.

And last, but certainly not least.... My latest adventure:

MOAB, UTAH

We planned this little family gathering Mother's Day weekend. My mom's aunts are visiting all month from Florida so it was a perfect chance for them to see something other than snow... It was awesome to have all of us together- Arnold and his family, Angelica & Quiquin and their beautiful kids, Aunt Liliana with Chris and Valerie, grandma and grandpa Urrea with grandma's sisters, Arnold Andres, Andrea, and us three of course! All 21 of us (plus a dog) in one three-bedroom-8-bed-three-bathroom house... What an adventure!

We left early Saturday morning and arrived around noon. We were all tired and hungry but ready to play. After a ton of unloading, Quiquin, Tina and I went on a bike ride while lunch was ready. We found a quite a few red dirt mounds and had lots of fun going off the jumps. After a very yummy BBQ, Tina and I were ready to go again. After what seemed like ages Tina finally got the courage to go down one of them, I was so proud! Finally, around four we decided to hit up the local Rec to go swimming. Although the pool was indoors, it was still a ton of fun going down the slide and playing with the little kids. We took the kids to the park where they were holding the Red Rock Relay- THAT was really cool to watch. Everyone had matching outfits for their teams, some were hilarious!

Later Saturday night, my mom, sister and I went to hit up the town. It was really cool to look at all the stuff they had. Tina was dying for a sweatshirt from one of the stores but they didn't have one in her size... Sad. We went back home and found everyone asleep... We had quite a few hikes (or so we thought) ahead of us Sunday.

Sunday was very eventful day... We got up early and packed up the cars, had breakfast, had a little testimony meeting and a very yummy lunch. After that we were ready to hit the trails! We stopped by the visitor center at Arches so that our Florida-visitors knew kinda what we were getting into, after twenty minutes of potty breaks, water-drinking, shoe tying, etc... We were ready to go! The drive up was incredible, lots of breath-taking views and picture opportunities. After a while we made it to Balanced Rock.... We hiked up and around it until we were ready to move on.. Or so we thought.

We spent almost two hours at Balanced Rock. Why? Well remember that dog I mentioned above? yeah,

he decided to jump out of the car and run into the wilderness... That freakin' chihuahua! We searched for ages

and ages. Had we been seen by the patrol we would have been busted for being off the trails.

Chris saw him jump out of the car and went after him, as soon at the dog saw Chris the dang dog bolted.

We thought he was a goner. We gave up looking after two hours

and headed towards the North and South Windows and the Double Arch....

A few hikes later we were ready to head home...

To make a long story short, they eventually found that little rascal of a dog.

Everyone rejoiced- The End

I had a lot of fun in Moab, it was quite an adventure spending so much time with so many people. Although our house smelled funny, the memories made were definitely worth it. I love my family very much, I am very grateful for the time I get to spend with them. I think the best part of our trips are always the hours spent in the car there and back. Windows down and music blasting is how we roll. So if you are ever invited to come on a little road trip with us, be prepared to hear lots of Juanes, Camilla, and Fonseca... and lots of singing out of tune :)

And last but not least.... Pictures!!!

Ah, food. Definitely one of the highlights :)

...I was hungry...

Mommy and Tina

Props to Tina for being brave!

One of the greatest fathers this world has ever seen.

Not all were excited about being at the park. haha.

One of the greatest mothers in the world..

Kinda hard to believe in this picture. Hehe.

My favorite boy in our family.

Hitting up all the cool stores.

Sweet little Valerie, Tina did a great job on her hair.

Tina and I had a little pre-hike warm up.

Ready to hit up the trails!

Soo pretty.

Moab was AMAZING. Can't wait to go again, and hopefully soon!!