Turkey Bowl

I believe in playing Turkey Bowl every year. Since our activities committee didn't put one on, I decided to open Relief Society Enrichment to the boys. It was super fun and we had a great turnout. The irony is that we had probably 45 guys to 15 girls. I made sure we had posters, 4 different set of colored flags, even a trophy. With about an hour until game time, my friend Monica asked me if I had footballs. That never even dawned on me to get. Remember this is an enrichment activity. Luckily my home teacher Brandon brought the footballs. As a good RS sister I did take lots of pictures.

Christmas Carolers

I know it's still November but tonight as I was leaving to go have dinner at a friends house, the door bell started ringing. I wasn't expecting anyone and most of my friends don't ring the bell so I was leery. I hear a lot of ruckus and thought, "oh man, punk kids. What do they want?" As soon as I opened the door...10 neighborhood kids ranging from ages 7-12 started to sing Jingle Bells in a loud booming voice. It was so very sweet. No adults were within view and it made my day to see that there are still people/children out there w/ Christmas joy (even in Nov.)I took out my camera cause it's always w/ me but my batteries were dead. Very sad. So happy early Christmas everyone.

Simple Thanks

My simple list of thanks:
My Family



Temples,gospel,priesthood, Heavenly Father, and everything that comes w/ the truthfulness of the gospel.




Friends




America

Diversity


Internet

Auction for charity

We had our annual auction at church to raise money for charity. A few girls from the ward decided to make a collection of Cd's dedicated to break ups and man hating. Needless to say, they were a huge hit.


These are the I am Woman collection. 3 really cool girls from our ward made these. There were 48 songs total and they really arranged them so it flowed. And yes, all the songs were legally downloaded.


I put on my best "got dumped" face to bid. A lot of girls really wanted the Cd's cause there were really good singles on it.


When the guys found out about the man hating alums, they were appalled. All the guys
at the auction gathered money together to out bid anyone for the Cd's.


Determined to get their manhood back, the guys won the auction and plan on destroying the Cd's. It was very fun.

It was very nice to raise money for charity. I put up cooking dinner for 4 and it went for 45 dollars so that was nice.

Why Fall Rocks

It is starting to get cold and there is only one reason why I love it. It's the fall fashion!



This is my new favorite coat. For some reason it makes me feel like a little girl in Russia during WWII. I think it makes me think of my favorite children's book "A new Coat for Anna" by Harriet Ziefert.




Some of my scarfs. Most of them are homemade. I don't care if it isn't cold enough,I wear them anyway.


Ohhh I'm cold. My mitten will warm me up. Ahhh warmth. Wait now I'm too hot. How do I solve that?


Bammm! Problem solved. Also if I become a hobo, I'm set.


With my bangs, I feel very mysterious. I'm trying out the bold liner w/ deep lips look. I think I look like a hooker but my coworker said I should say exotic instead. What do you think?

Yangster the Gangster

There is this radio station in Arizona that I am OBSESSED with. It's with Johnjay and Rich and you can check it out at johnjayandrich.com. I was so sad when I moved to TX and had to leave them behind. Then I discovered "Podcasts".Honestly, the only reason I wanted an Ipod was to listen to them. I've yet to put actual music on my ipod. They are just really funny and Johnjay is probably one of the most random people ever. He doesn't ever remember any lines or quotes but repeats what he thinks they are and he never knows the lines to any songs. He is like my guy counter part. Everyone made a bet that he wouldn't be able to rap to JayZ's Roc Boyz. He had a whole year to learn it, and miraculous he did. That honestly inspired me to be able to do it too. I've always wanted to be able to do things like that, lacked faith. With his glory came much confidence in myself. I vow here and now that I will be able to rap to Weird Als White and Nerdy. No reading lyrics, no stumping and I will get the flow down. I will truly earn my Yangster status. This seriously is all thanks to Johnjay on a radio show. I also added them to my friends list on Facebook. My obsession is bordering on sad and pathetic. Right now it's just extremely weird and I'm ok with that.


Here they are w/ Joey from Nsync. Of all the things to talk about Johnjay chooses to ask how to dance to bye bye bye. I'd probably do the same.



This is another look to how random and dumb they are but hilarious. I like Johnjay's response to how he responds to emails. Sometimes I say the same thing about much stuff in life.

The World of Bloggers

I've been slacking a little in my blogging life. I was feeling the blogging blues and then, POOF, I am inspired by all you bloggers out there. My good friend Bex got a blog (in part to my encouragement) and I saw that my home teacher Brandon starting blogging again. I was truly inspired to blog again from reading the blogs of others. So thank you to all bloggers in this cyber world for inspiring me to be so much more.

Texas??

I looked up San Antonio and it is ranked as the 7th largest city in the U.S. How is it that sometimes they do things so backwards here? Case in point. I got a ticket earlier in the month and had a court date today. I made the trek downtown. That, in itself, I don't like to go b/c all downtowns are crazy. So I end up lost for a bit and have to circle the same block 10 thousand times. Finally, I make it to the Municipal Courthouse. I go to the Information desk and the lady tells me to go to courtroom 4. I go and besides the judge and clerks, it's just me. They call me up and I'm thinking that wow, this will be fast and simple. Nope, I'm in Texas and they do things the long way here. So the clerk gives me a paper and tells me to go to room 1&2. It's one big room. Well then why is it called 1&2? Whatever, I roll with it. I go talk to the prosecutor who tells me how much I owe and that I need to go to room 4. I was just in room 4. I go back, give the same clerk my paper, she tells me to sit down and wait to be called. The room is practically empty. Finally the judge calls me up, tells me how much I need to pay (which the prosecutor already did) and sends me to the other clerk in the room. Mind you all this is happening all in one room and everyone is sitting next to each other. I'm thinking, fine, I can pay the 2nd clerk and be done. I give her my paper, she also tells me how much I need to pay and that I need to take my papers to the cashier. Ohh O.K. I've had 2 other people tell me that and I've walked around in circles. I saw absolutley no point to any of this. So then I walk around to the cashier, which is right where the prosecutor was. Finally, I get to pay my fine and leave. It wasn't that it took a long time, cause I was out of there within 30 mins. It was that there was no point to walking from the same room to the next. It was just pointless and a waste of time. It surprises me that a city this big is still so backwards. And no offense to Texas but they don't find anything wrong w/ the way the city is run. I find a lot of things they do here backwards. The road system, the lack of drainage on the streets, parking lots that don't join w/ the lots next to them, how you can't register your car at the DMV. I really really LOVE Texas and San Antonio but I really question how they run things here. It's like a big city w/ small town mentalitly. I think things can be a lot more productive if they cut out useless wastes if time. Now I'm off my complaining soap box.

Inspired by Chrissy's Inspiration of the CMA's

I was watching my friend Chrissy's blog on the video by Sugarland's Stay and how powerful that song was to her and it got me thinking about 2 songs that really struck a chord w/ me. I'm not very big on music videos so it means a lot when one is so good and powerful that I actually watch it. A few years ago, I came across Martina Mcbrides' Concrete Angel. It just made me cry the whole time.



It just makes me incredibly sad knowing that there is this kind of abuse in the world. Children are so precious that I can't even imagine anyone would hurt them. I just think of how lonely they must feel but it also sends a message of hope. I am so grateful to have the Saviors love to carry me through my hard times. It makes me sad to know that some people don't have that but we do all have the chance to make it back to our Heavenly Father. Even if our life here isn't the best, everything will more than make up for it eternally.

The other song that captivated me is Duffy's Warwick Avenue. I could just feel her hurt and pain and longing. It's really simple but I understood exactly where she was coming from. Makes me think about the times where I've been in that situation and it really is just sad. So this is for anyone who's ever had a heartbreak.

I am American

I am so proud to be an American. My family came here to the United States of America in 1980, one year before I was born. I always new how lucky my family and I are to be able to live here and have the freedom of the U.S. My family was always very proud that I was the first born American. I was a symbol of hope and opportunity. They were so proud to have a true, legitimate American in the family that they named me after the most American person they knew, Lynda Carter, AKA Wonder Woman. I am so thankful to all who has served this country and rose up to fight for their cause. I am so grateful for those who fought in the Revolutionary War because that was the beginning of this great nation. I am grateful for this country and for the Lords hand in getting my family here. I know that this is His work and through faith, love, charity and obedience, we can restore the true gospel and return to Him. Thank you Veterans, may God bless you.

I found this video that I really liked. I appreciate people who put forth effort to show their appreciation. I especially liked some of the picture transitions. So enjoy.

Youtube? You be the judge.

I'm not much of a Youtuber, but someone had mentioned to look up a video on a Mormon spoof so of course, I ended up spending way too much time watching things. I stumbled upon this which I thought this was super cute. I always remember things more if there is something catchy about it. Here is to the leaders of our church.



I also came across some anti Mormon videos which made me very irritated and I won't dwell on what is was. I don't like to watch too many b/c I get sucked in the negativity. I decided though to read some of the comments to see what people's reactions where. A young man made a comment really recently which really stood out to me. He was curious about religion and were asking those anti Mormons on gospel truth. He sounded like a very impressionable young man who truly just wanted to find truth and had no clue where to look.I have been working very hard on missionary work this year and had just taken a missionary prep class Sunday where we talked about commitments to share the gospel and how intricate commitments are to getting people to listen. At the end of the lesson, she made us all pick a commitment to do this week. I didn't want to make the commitment b/c then I was liable(which was the point of the lesson). I picked the easiest commitment, which was to pray for the missionaries and for opportunities to share the gospel. I distinctively made it clear that I can only commit to the first half which is to pray for the missionaries. It is very hard for me to share the gospel but when I read what that young man was saying, I thought about the commitments we had made and I was very prompted to email him. So I got his user info and sent him a message that he should go to lds.org for correct information and to contact the missionaries. I also said he can email me if he wanted. It felt really good to turn that negative video into something that could change another's life greatly. It was nice because it took aways any feeling of irritation I had and made me focus on what really matters and that is sharing the correct gospel. I don't know what will happen, but I felt good about following through on my commitments which is helping to spread the word.

Los(t) Maples

My friends and I decided to go to this beautiful state park in TX called Lost Maples or as I call it Los Maples. It was so much more breath taking than I could imagine. I love seeing the leaves change colors for fall. It was so picturesque and serene. I've taken some pictures from Chrissy because she was able to truly capture the beauty of the maples and their colors. There was also the cutest little apple store that had homemade apple goodies. I recommend a cup of apple ice cream. the store was joined to this burger place that had delicious homemade buns. What an experience.


I like how this makes us look like cool hikers. I feel this is an official hiker's pose.

Can you imagine a better place to stand underneath?

Celestial Marriage

I usually work on Wednesday nights so I miss out on Institute but I was able to go last night and it was one of the best classes in awhile. I went to Celestial Marriage w/ Bro. Facer simply because my friends were in that class. I've always thought, Celestial Marriage? How desperate do I need to look? I thought it would be a class about how much we aren't doing what we're supposed to do cause we aren't married yet. I thought that the whole time, getting married would be shoved down our throats. Boy was I wrong. I've heard a lot of good things but I saw how the class really is about giving you tools to have a successful marriage. It really shows how the gospel is the core and driving force of marriage. It gives faith, light and hope in a time where marriage is disinagrating. It puts back the perspective on why we are here, get married and have children. It is like counseling but w/ the Lord as our therapist.

The lesson was on the differences between men and women and the need of respect for one another. Today, too often, we fight about equality and Independence and lose site on balancing and learning from each other. Bro Facer stressed that Women are highly respected and have the precious gift of being mothers. I've struggled in the past with not wanting to be submissive and wanting to do everything that men are able to do. This article by Boyd K. Packer titled "For Time and All Eternity" reminds me of the bigger picture the Lord has giving us on Marriage.

Camping in the great outdoors

I planned this camping trip last week for me and a few of my friends. This is what you get when you only drive 30 mins to camp.
A few funny things about this campsite. Where we were sleeping, there was no grass. I just always thought that when one camps, grass is a given. When I was looking up the campsite, they also mentioned there were fire rings. They just failed to mention that the fire rings were transportable and you had to request for them to bring it to the campsite. There was also an apartment right across from where we were sleeping and illuminated our campsite. You can see the lights from the buildings. It was a weekend of laughs, irony, trains, fun and friendship.

I always make Monica bring her guitar everywhere we go. She has a lot of talent and she plays all the songs I know. Notice Garcia holding the space lights that I couldn't work all the while playing the nose flute. Yes, such a thing exists and he is never without it cause you never know when it'll come in handy. I think the way it works is to blow out your nose and use the size of your mouth to change the notes. Yes, it's gross but entertaining.

I have never been serenaded in espanol before. I felt very worldly. Derek did a good job of making a Spanish guitar out of Monica's guitar.

Steve totally gets the Man Mode card for the night. Bless his manly skills for getting the fire started and keeping it going all night.

Our amazing foil dinner. Meat and veggies with worchshire sauce. That made all the difference in the world. We didn't bring tongs so I made pot holders with layers of foil. Everyone made fun of me until it worked. I was surprised how good it tasted and how simple it was. It was just a guess and check for doneness. As I told Garcia, pink means NOT done.


Give it to Anel and Bex who toughed out the night on concrete floor and train lullabies. And they did it all with laughter.

I think Chrissy and David were looking for more wood to burn. There really wasn't any since there wasn't even any grass. Or they were hiking to the "waterfall." It was really pretty if you block out the banner and buildings surrounding it. It almost looked like nature.

Who knew that there would exist a campsite that was 20 feet away from train tracks. Literally, the train schedule ran all night every hour. It wasn't just that it traveled all night but that it blew its horn every time. The worst was sometime around 5ish when the horn blew for a minute straight. Glad I wasn't asleep during that time.

Bex took this picture of me. I always sleep under the covers every morning to block out the light. Derek and I stayed up til 6:30 in the morning so I slept in til 11. At least the trains were no longer running to disturb my sleep.

This is our lovely campground in the morning. Take note of "civilization" across the river. I guess there is some comfort knowing that if we ran out of food or water, we can just knock on a door and ask for help.

Halloween: the best day of the year

I was super excited to dress up for Halloween because I conviced all my friends to dress up with me as Greek Gods. I all had wicked costumes and were so excited to put them together. It was just fun getting ready and pulling together. It was also very cool to walk in together as one group. I really loved how it all turned out. I was very happy with how my snake hair turned out.


I just loved our theme. We were the best Greek Gods. We have Athena, Hades, Poseidon, Nike, Aphrodite, Hermes and Medusa. I loved how everyone got so into their costumes.


Only in Texas will you find UT coaches. Hook em Horns!


Bex was so convincing as a goth girl that I didn't even recognize her. She was standing in front of me for awhile before I knew who she was.

The most amazing thing happened. I won the best door prize of the night, an IPOD Shuffle. If anything else, I wanted to win this. Well, for some reason I ended up with I think 5 raffle tickets. Out of that, 2 of them were winners. I also won tickets to the Messiah concert.