El Salvador: The Lake House

My family has been visiting El Salvador for 6 or 7 years.  Each year, my dad's friend has generously opened his home to the 13 of us.

my brother Colt doesn't like when I take pictures of him, but isn't he sooo handsome?

below: This was at church.  Olivia giving some love to one of the little girls.  Too cute. 

Everyone was calling Olivia "nina cielita" because she's so fair.

At one point when we were sitting and waiting for the meeting to start, I beckoned my brother (whom we affectionately call 'too tall Nelson') over to translate.  He (discretely) stepped over the row of folding chairs to come help, and the people beside me, who were about the height of Nelson's waist, oh you should've seen their jaws drop when they saw those forever long legs!!!  Their reaction was hilarious.  

 Every morning we had smooth water and blue skies and every evening a beautiful tropical storm rolled in. 

...which we, of course, enjoyed from the hot tub.  :)

the soon-to-be misionera:

[more to come later]
see El Salvador 2008 here here here & here

We've spent the last two weeks vacationing divinely in tropical El Salvador and a beautiful lake in Montana. 
Posts & pictures to come. :)

Families Can Be Together Forever

Me, Olivia & Stefanie after the temple sealing

Roadtrip to Moab

Our lil fam + my siblings (Nels and Lindy) went hiking/camping in the end of June.

Little Wildhorse (Slot Canyon)

Goblin Valley

TA-DAH!

just kiddin, this is what it really looks like:

(I adore the above picture)

By the time we made our way to Moab it was almost midnight.  The roads were dusty, winding, and very dark.  Someone said, "Where are we?" and , as if on queue, a huge sign appeared saying "Hell's Revenge." Haha. 
We found a sandy spot and set up our tent but it was extremely windy.  Not only was the tent shaking wildly but the way the wind causes the sides/roof to slap against each other there were constant startling noises, like a piercing clap or crack. 
Bradshaw told us that monsters were pushing on the sides of the tent and no matter how many times we reassured him it was the wind, he was shaking with fright.  Every time the wind slapped against the tent, he yelped and jumped in my arms.   Fortunately, once he fell asleep nothing disturbed him. 
Olivia, on the other hand, thought it was the funniest thing to be sitting in the dark with everyone.  She was wide-eyed and grinning from ear-to-ear.  We tried a bottle and cuddling but nothing helped her fall asleep.  By 2 or 3am we all lying down, trying to half-sleep,  while she crawled back and forth over our bodies, panting with excitement and slapping our faces.
It was an adventurous night to say the least.     

our tent by morning light :)

Arches

our internet connection is very slow.  The End.

Little Amelia

Elisse & Brad had their baby girl!  (She was born in the end of June.)

just a few hours old :)

cousins, 9months 6days apart

 

closest she got to fussing (ie heavenly disposition):
she made this face and drifted to sleep.  

Silver Lake

We have arrived in the beautiful beehive state!  

Last night we went for a walk around Silver Lake with Brad & Elisse. 

Bradshaw loves his Uncle Brad and often calls him "my friend."  

Brad pulled logs out of the lake and pointed out the beaver teeth marks; and then found the beaver.

You can't tell from the picture, but this Elisse is pregnant and due today. 

(Yeah, no fair right?  She is so tiny.) 

See!  Told ya. 

Be Strong

Today we read a conference talk entitled Be of a Good Courage.

One story stood out to me.  An older teen was advising a 12-year-old on how to "remain faithful and virtuous."  The older teen said “When you walk down the halls of your school, you might, out of the corner of your eye, see something that catches your attention, something that doesn’t seem quite right. You may be curious and want to look. My advice to you is this: Don’t look. I promise you’ll regret it if you do. Believe me; just look straight ahead.”

Dustinn and I had the same response.  What is this girl seeing?  Pornography taped up in lockers?  People making out?  Drugs?  What? 
And then my second thought was just how much the high school experience has degraded since I was there.  Maybe I was naive or just plain blind but I really enjoyed high school and felt like most of my peers, religious or not, were a great examples to me. 
My younger siblings, age 16 and 14, sometimes slip hints that high school has changed a lot--that there is a lot more experimentation, confusion, sadness.  ...What do you think? 

Have you heard the  youth theme song?  It's really uplifting/empowering.  (Check it out!)

Fort Worth Stock Yards

Our little cowboy's paradise.

Reading Buddies

Presenting.....

the newest full-time missionary: Lindy!who: my little sister Lindy
when: September 2010-March 2012
where: Montreal Canada
how: French-speaking

A few months ago Lindy "turned in her papers," which is colloquial for submitting an application to become a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   Applicants must be members of the church of at least one year and passApplying includes multiple interviews with ecclesiastical leaders, medical exams, essays, as meeting strict moral standards in our church saying that she met all the requirements and would like the opportunity to spend 18 months devoting herself to teaching others about the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lindy has no say in where her mission location will be. There is a missionary committee that prayerfully seeks answers to where each missionary should go. Lindy is going where God can best use her. (Incidentally, this is the first of a million times as a missionary that Lindy will say, "I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord, I'll do what you want me to do.")

Lindy is an excellent French speaker and is very excited about her assignment.

Serving a mission is a BIG DEAL. It is not easy. Not only are you apart from your family, with minimal contact (2 phone calls a year), but you put your heart and soul into sharing and the gospel of Jesus Christ and most reject it (which feels like they are rejecting you.)

There is no obNo one pressured her to go. Lindy decided she wants to serve a mission. She is looking forward to this (relatively short) period of time when she can consecrate all her time to seeking God's will and serving others.

I was lucky enough to serve a mission (long ago haha) and in the words of Robert Frost, "I took the [road] less traveled by and (for me) that has made all the difference."
It is priceless to me. While it included some of the worst days of my life, it also included many of the best days of my life. My mission taught me, among other things, that Priesthood is the power of God on earth, and it is every bit as real as electricity, and much more powerful. It made it clear that Jesus Christ is aware of every little child, in every little village, in the far corners of the world. It made it clear that Jesus Christ is living and actively leading His work on earth.

I'm excited for Lindy and our family as we follow her adventures in Canada.

What Dustinn and Bradshaw have been doing for the last hour...

Water World

My parents have a family pass at the community center, which means we can go with them for free (awesome!)  The swimming area is so cool.  Bradshaw's favorite part is definitely the lazy river (although he begs for the big slides constantly but he has to be 42".)