Au Revoir Soeur Evans

Today I spent the day with my little sister McKay and my mom, just before she enters the Missionary Training Center (MTC) tomorrow. She will be serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Port Vila Vanuatu Mission--New Caledonia Region, speaking French, for the next 18 Months.

We are so excited for her, but of course are going to miss her immensely. This is my first family member serving a mission, so I'm a newbie at this, even though I actually talk to missionaries every day for work. Any suggestions from you more experienced out there? I couldn't be more proud of my little sister for making this decision, and for her faithfulness, her spirit and her diligence. She is a truly amazing young woman. 

I had the chance to go to the temple with her today! What a cool experience. Words don't really describe the temple. I am so grateful to be able to go to them so frequently--it's a blessing about living in Utah that we have so many nearby. I'll try not to take that for granted.

We shopped around and tonight went to dinner. We missed our Dad a lot, and wish he could have been there too. Since McKay already speaks French pretty well, her date to report was changed, and Dad's big meeting at work was well, the same day as her report date.

This is probably my favorite Thai place in Provo/Orem. The lemongrass soup (Tom Kai Ka?) is the BEST! 

From dinner in Maryland at Christmas. 

After dinner, we celebrated Mum's birthday! Yay January 28 :) a major celebration--we had shortbread chocolate pudding pie ( I woke up at 6 am this morning to make it. I guess I do love them after all ;).

And then proceeded the after-dinner laughter and rumble-glomming on the sofa as per usual. We also enjoyed a fashion show by Jared, tales of how mom can sell ANYTHING and Haley ALMOST....crossing the line. And of course lots of pictures. Most of which I would be lynched for publicly displaying, so here are the best ones.

This was going to be a picture of just H and M, but J jumped in with that lamp at the perfect moment--this picture is purely candid.

Sweet sisters. 

M to H: "let's laugh at each other!" H to Me: "Why do you ALWAYS zoom in so much?!"

"Let's all look at McKay!"

FOR DAD

These boots are made for walking. 

Home is calling

This time of year, with snow and the anticipation of Christmas, always gets me excited to visit home and family. This morning, mum sent me this picture.

You have to understand, though my family has moved three times since I've been at school, they all have the same lovely characteristic: woody, snow covered meadows and forests. Utah doesn't have these, it's all mountains here. Don't get me wrong, they are beautiful and I love them. But this sight warms my heart because I have SOOOOOO many memories of taking walks in places just like this.

I CAN HARDLY WAIT!!

The Girl's Still Got IT!

Sunday was wonderful--BETH AND JONATHAN CAME TO CHURCH WITH US.

Let's not forget that normally they are in the wonderful place called Washington DC. We were lucky enough that this weekend, amidst all their family time, they squeezed us in. It was seriously so good to see them.

And they convinced both Jared and I that Dominion is the game for us. (At least for me)

Then I made homemade bread for dinner. Yes, that was pretty much it...we did have some vegetables. Cause it's not dinner without some veggies!

Now I'd like to tell a story.

Once upon a time, almost 3 years ago now, a young girl went on a hike in Wales. The walk went over mountains, through clouds and sheep pastures, past old brick houses and along merry lanes of grass. The girl grew tired and somewhat lost. She and her friends decided to stop and ask for directions to a magical place called Big Pit. They only assumed it was magical, not having been there before. 

Then, this girl, adventurous to the extreme, decided to leap a low lying wall instead of walking around it. She took a few steps back, started running and LEAP! her left leg made it over the wall, but her right shin crashed right into the brick edge. Gouged and bleeding the girl hobbled into the gas station and begged for bandages. Once cleaned up, she and her friends continued walking to the place of Big Pit. A magical experience indeed. 

Now for another story. 

Three years later, this same girl, although a bit older, has no less a sense of adventure. Maybe we should call it a feeling of indestructibility. She feels that she can do ANYTHING! So one night, alone in her apartment, waiting for her cute husband to come home (the one that made the adventure to Big Pit so worthwhile), she decided to do some yoga to work off her Thanksgiving turkey belly. Having stretched and limbered up quite well. She proceeded to practice her handstands against a wall. All went well. She moved to another room, to give herself more space and so she could practice without a wall in front of her. So close to getting up on her own, she decided that she really needed more space in front of her, that way, if she toppled over forward, she could somersault and avoid injury. 

Up she kicked her legs, her hands pressed to the floor. Almost fully extended, she lost her balance and fell. Sideways. Into a doorway. As she lay curled up on the floor moaning, her husband walked in. "Are you napping?" No. Look at my shin. There's a piece of it on the wall. 

My leg. On the wall. It's a very sharp corner.

Another one. Added to the broken toe, you'd think I'd learn to settle down eh?

If you look closely at my right leg, you can see the indentation from my run- in with the Welsh Wall. I lost a good chunk of flesh that day. 

I just started a new book. It's called Little Bee. In it, the main character (Little Bee) says, "We must all see scars as beauty...A scar means I survived."

Granted in this case, I was just being stupid. Clearly our apartment is NOT big enough for handstands. But I thought that quote has a powerful message. And I've always been proud of my scars--they provide me with stories to tell. My scars prove to me that I have lived, and I have had some pretty amazing experiences. Sorry about the graphic images. 

Do you have any favorite scars?

 

You will NOT Defeat ME!!!

So one day a few weeks ago, I rode my bike to work.
The wind was killer. And I actually yelled at loud at the wind, "You will not defeat me!" I made it to work on time that day.

On Tuesday this week, Jared and I took a hike. We went up Slate Canyon--one of my new favorite hikes because of all the beautiful rocks. We hiked in for about 2 hours. See below how preeetty and coooold it was that day. Also, our aim was to be like Katniss and Peeta, exploring the wilderness.

Look, wolf tracks! 

Hunter or hunted?

Jared quoted me during our hike--it was one of the steepest hiking trails we have been on. But what a great day it was. However, hiking down was a nightmare. My broken toe and the blisters on the bottom of my other toes forced me to walk backward down the entire mountain. And because walking backward is a dangerous affair, my darling, wonderful, sweet husband walked right in front of me, holding my hands and guiding me down--telling me where to step and keeping my hands warm. How did I get so lucky to get a man like him?

The slate formations in this canyon, and the colors of the slate, are like nothing I've ever seen. And seriously, every time we hike up there, I geek out a little bit. 

Most of our hike was in shadow, we started so early that the sun hadn't peeked into the canyon yet, so the ground was completely frozen, and the farther back in we hiked, the more snow we encountered. It was cold enough that I could walk on top of it like a goat. And I did. 

But finally the sun peeked through. It is amazing what a difference the sun makes in our lives, bringing us light, warmth and hope. The Son does the same. 

I'm grateful for family. 

They are my running buddies. 

They all love brownies for breakfast. 

They are magical creatures. 

And "monopolizers" of my time and energy. 

But my family is the BEST! I am so grateful to have them in my life, and so grateful that we were able to spend this weekend together. I don't know what I would do without these cheesers. 

I remembered that I have this blog...

Last weekend was general conference. And of course in all things worthwhile, like telling you all about it/what we did/how much I loved it, I am behind.

Here's some pics. (great grammar right? I love being out of school. not...)


Jared and I went on a hike. I have to say, I am going to miss this being 5 minutes away from our apartment. Granted, we still have no idea where we will be in 6 months from now. Even less really, Jared graduates in April and after that it's really FREEDOM to find what/where we want to want to go/do.

Haley and McKay came down for the weekend and we worked on our Halloween race day costumes. Did I mention that we are all running a half marathon on the 26th October? Did I also mention that I am the only one training? Did I also mention that although I really want to just relax and enjoy the race/run/jog/walk plus donut eating, apple bobbing, cemetary wandering adventure day, I also kind of want to do well--as in finish with a good time. The only problem with that being that I will likely run the whole race myself, which completely ruins the point of my family FINALLY doing a race with me.

I guess I'll just need to calm myself down and enjoy. Maybe I'll take a camera--that way I'll have something to do to prevent me from running ahead of them all.

Work is changing. After almost 2 years of arranging travel and getting visas for Taiwan, Russia, Cambodia, the Baltics and Bulgaria, I am switching missions. I have been anxious for more work to do for awhile now, I was feeling like I had accomplished everything I could and I mentioned to my super that I'd like some extra responsibility. Now, I am doing visas/travel for BRAZIL. You know that country. The infamous Brazil. Infamous for being extremely complicated to get religious visas for missionaries.


My workload has tripled. I guess you get what you ask for (and pray for). But guess what!? I am absolutely loving it. I'm excited for this new challenge for my intellect and my organizational skills. This is certainly a change for the better.

Also I got a haircut the other day. So here's the weird thing about me and my hair. I have always wanted to get some edgy/sassy new do. Jared insists that I keep it long. In all aspects of my life I accept and acknowledge my own decision making skills and prefer to do the choosing.

Except when it comes to my hair. I have to let other people tell me what to do. I don't know why.

Problem? Yes, likely. So I got my hair cut, and it looks exactly the same as before, just a few inches taken off the bottom for health. My stylist, Sydney, recognized me when I went in, "It's been a long time since I've seen you."



"Yes, it's been about 7 months." I said. Haircut ensued. End of visit: "NEVER WAIT 7 MONTHS TO CUT YOUR HAIR AGAIN! You should come in every 12 weeks to keep your hair healthy." "Okay" I said. Then as I left i snickered to myself, "hahah it's actually been 10 months since my last haircut. BOOM!"




As if that really got her. Why is that a win? I really couldn't say. I guess I felt like I was beating the system.

This might be one of my new favorite places. Look at those gorgeous rocks. It was so peaceful here. And Quiet and cool and next to running water. BEAUTIFUL. 

I love slate. The colors are fab. I told Jared about a slate entryway we had in our old house in Naperville.  I really loved the way the stone looked. 

Rose quartz and a yellow leaf. I'm sure J thinks I'm crazy cause I took SO MANY pictures of rocks...even though we went hiking to look at the fall leaves. 

Fall colors. The reason for our hike. 

Getting ready for conference and crafting!

Haley is the Art Boss. 

Two of the finished products. Come back later for race day pics. 

Painting and conference. What could be better? Look at those works of ART!