What I'll be doing next month. (so excited, by the way)

FSA West and Idaho Regional Conference 2009 Flyer



I hope I do okay.

I'm excited to see Mrs. R again, to thank her in person for the beautiful jewelry I have purchased from her Etsy shop, r house couture (waiting for my second necklace to come in the mail...this one was a custom order and I can't wait to see it), and give her a big congrats on winning her adoption case!

I'm really excited to meet Monica Blume too.  I read "For the Love of a Child: The Journey of Adoption" a while ago and I tell you, that book should be sold with a box of kleenex!  It's wonderful.

And then of course seeing the Xanthos clan is always something to look forward to.  Only 3 weeks away!  (I can't believe it, seems like yesterday it was 3 months.  I'd better get pondering on what I should speak about.)

"Real as the Sunrise"

Another one of my Daily Gems that I found too beautiful and inspiring not to share:

"The year was 1820, the season spring. The boy with questions walked into the grove of his father's farm. There, finding himself alone, he pleaded in prayer for that wisdom which James promised would be given liberally to those who ask of God in faith. (See James 1:5.) There, in circumstances which he has described in much detail, he beheld the Father and the Son, the great God of the universe and the risen Lord, both of whom spoke to him. "This transcendent experience opened the marvelous work of restoration. It lifted the curtain on the long-promised dispensation of the fulness of times. "For more than a century and a half, enemies, critics, and some would-be scholars have worn out their lives trying to disprove the validity of that vision. Of course they cannot understand it. The things of God are understood by the Spirit of God. There had been nothing of comparable magnitude since the Son of God walked the earth in mortality. Without it as a foundation stone for our faith and organization, we have nothing. With it, we have everything. "Much has been written, much will be written, in an effort to explain it away. The finite mind cannot comprehend it. But the testimony of the Holy Spirit, experienced by countless numbers of people all through the years since it happened, bears witness that it is true, that it happened as Joseph Smith said it happened, that it was as real as the sunrise over Palmyra, that it is an essential foundation stone, a cornerstone, without which the Church could not be 'fitly framed together.' "

Gordon B. Hinckley, The Cornerstones of Our Faith, Ensign, Nov. 1984, 52





Oh and by the way, add me to the "countless numbers of people" who bear witness that this is true.

Want to know what I'm doing right now?

I'm eating a bowl of Count Chocula. That's right!

Heck. Yeah.

Piano skillz.

A few weeks ago we went to lunch at Allen's Bistro.
There was a piano in the corner.

I played it first and there's no video of it because, well, I'm the one with the camera.
I'm not sad though, because let's just say I'm glad I went first; the others totally showed me up! Despite the piano being painfully out of tune.

Iván showed me up first.... I was impressed!  Who knew?

Then the cook came out and showed us BOTH up. 

And then he really got going...


Show off.

We missed you, Maury and Carol, et. al.!

I heart my family.  Big.
Saturday we had dinner at Cracker Barrell in Glendale.  I finally met my newest nephew and he's super cute! (like anyone expects any less)  If only Maury and Carol were there it would have been more perfecter.  Yep I said that.

I'm starting to get sentimental about our little Nora getting married.  Sniff, sniff.

Apparently I scare babies.....

And babies scare Nora.....

(Good, you should be scared....for a while...lol)

Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Kirsten!

['Happy Birthday, Kirsten', for all you non-German speakers)(or those who don't know how to use Google]

Friday night we welcomed Kirsten into the 28 year old club (a very chic club which I will unfortunately be leaving soon) by going to Oktoberfest at Tempe Beach Park.  It was great for people watching. What is it about fair-type events that bring out the freak shows?

Some people really think that Mormons have horns.  As you can see, the rumors are true! ;)


Spencer specifically wanted me to get him stuffing fries in his face.  Crazy kid.

Tim and his chocolate covered banana:  a love story.

There were some regular bands, which was fine, but what really rocked was the POLKA!:

And more...


And here, we are discussing the eternal question of who leads when two lesbians polka together:  (Kirsten: "It's always the taller one.")

Love triangle.

Just because I threatened promised Jason I would post this. I managed to snap a picture before he destroyed my Post-it.

Don't try to understand it.