A Weekend Away

Around the second weekend of December some friends and I took a road trip to Vernal, Utah. That seems so exciting, I'm sure. However, I went along because it was a place that I had never been before and so I went. We arrived in Vernal late Thursday night, or I should say, early Friday morning. We stayed at a friend's sister's house.

Nothing to exciting happened during the trip so I will just list some of the things.
~Slept 20 minutes total the first night and three the next night
~Waffles for Breakfast
~Watched some good movies
~Played Wii Fit
~Had push-up and sit-up contest with my friend's nephew (I won the push-up one)
~Saw deer (10-20 at least) in the backyard
~We almost got hit by a deer.
~Ward Christmas Breakfast
~Beautiful scenery

Here are a few pictures from the ride home.

A Gift For You!

This year it has been kind of difficult for me to get into the holiday spirit. My roommate was in charge of our Ward Christmas Program in sacrament meeting. This was a huge blessing to me, even though it caused her some stress. For the week leading up to the program, there were people at our place practicing. It helped to bring the spirit a little stronger into the house and also the season. The program turned out fabulous!

One of the quotes in the program really hit me hard the first time I read it and it appears to have had the same impact on many. I want to share that with you all as a Christmas Gift via the Internet.

"Christmas is more than trees and twinkling lights, more than toys and gifts and baubles of a hundred varieties. It is love. It is the love of the Son of God for all mankind. It reaches out beyond our power to comprehend. It is magnificent and beautiful.

It is peace. It is the peace which comforts, which sustains, which blesses all who accept it. It is faith. It is faith in God and His eternal Son. It is faith in His wondorous ways and message. It is faith in Him as our Redeemer and our Lord.

We testify of His living reality. We testify of the divinity of His nature. In our times of grateful meditation, we acknowlede His priceless gift to us and pledge our love and faith. This is what Christmas is really about.

For each of you may this be a merry Christmas. but more importantly, I wish for each of you a time, perhaps only a hour, spent in silent meditation and quiet reflection on the wonder and majesty of this, the Son of God. Our joy at this season is because He came into the world. The peace that comes from Him, His infinite love which each of us may feel, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude for that which He freely gave us at so great a cost to Himself - these are the true essence of Christmas."
~President Gordon B Hinckley - "A Glorious Season" - The New Era - Dec. 2007

Merry Christmas to You All! May your Christmas be full of rememberance, love and joy. Thank you for being who you are!

An Enlightening Convo

Tonight for Home Evening my roommate volunteered me to do the lesson for another group. I was actually excited to go with that group because it is always wonderful to spend time with our Bishopric. They are great guys. After the lesson and game, we had refreshments. When I was getting ready to leave, this bishopric member started to talk to me about a few things.

Somehow, we got on the topic of guys and he asked the million-dollar question. What is that you may ask. It is Do guys date anymore? This one question started a pretty long conversation (at least 40 minutes) about guys. We talked about there are some amazing girls in this area and how the guys do not seem to notice. He then proceeded to call the guys numbskulls because they don't seem to get what great girls are around them weekly. Through this conversation we talked about a few things like:

~ How some guys are intimated by girls because they are "too perfect".
~ How guys seem to think that girls have certain "expectation" of them and so they don't ask them out.
~ Why people don't date anymore.
~ How dates do not need to be expensive or elaborate.
~ Dates can be fun things that allow you to get to know the other.
~ Why it seems like people seem to prefer to "hang out" rather than date.
~ How guys expect to get married without dating
~ What not dating does to the girls.
~ How women tend to beat themselves up over everything. For example, not being good enough for guys, what to do with the rest of their lives etc.

This was really an interesting conversation. He admitted that he married later than most people in his age group, but that people his age would go out and date and have fun. He was surprised with how clueless the guys seem to be about how important dating is in the grand scheme of things. It was really enlightening to know that he agrees with many of the thoughts and ideas that us single ladies have these days.

*I wrote about this conversation because I thought it was interesting and learned a lot. The priesthood leader was saying these things out of care and concern for those over whom he has stewardship over. Please take it in the spirit of love.