Best of EFY

I was able to attend the BEST OF Especially For Youth with our youth this weekend. It was so much fun! We got to listen to some super awesome speakers...which I did not doubt that they would disappoint. Clearly, they did not! There was 3 speakers and we were all ready for more. They are so incredible at how they can speak about something so so so important and influential and yet allow all of us to feel the spirit and enjoy learning about it! What a gift they have. The 3 speakers were Bro. Martin, Bro. Robley, and Bro. Wilcox at the East Chapel in town. Not only did the youth learn things, but us as leaders did too. So thankful for the opportunities to learn and feel of the spirit. What a blessing it is to be part of such a wonderful organization that has been created for the Youth.
Break down of the talks:
Bro. Martin spoke about how much of an influence friends are in our lives. After referring to the scriptures and taking a deeper look into the story of Sampson and Delilah, we need to rid ourselves of the Delilah's in our lives who try to take us down with them. We need friends who will lift us up, not step on us and sweep us under a rug and stomp on it. It is easy to get trapped with friends who want to be in control. Another story he related to us was that of Balam and the donkey. Balam is set on doing what he shouldn't. The donkey with him is determined to heed other direction and not allow him to go further and get into something bad. The donkey was taking heed of the cautions that were ahead and wanted nothing bad to happen to either so he would not move any further ahead. He wanted only to look out for Balam. We need donkeys in our lives to keep us on the straight and narrow and who support us and look out for us. We need good friends.
Bro. Robley was really pretty funny, but he continued to reiterate the importance of letting our light shine. He of course had a song to go with it to engrave in our minds I am sure...I haven't forgotten it thats for sure. We have the light of Christ, we need to show it off boldly by standing for what we believe and what we know to be true and be examples of just that. Do not hide behind a bushel or allow your light to be poofed out. Let it shine let it shine let it shine!!
Bro. Wilcox broke down for us the Gospel. We are so blessed to have the Gospel in our lives. G is for the Godhead and believing in 3 separate beings, God the Father - Jesus Christ - and the Holy Ghost. O is for the Only true Church. We have all the pieces to the puzzle. S is for Spirit. We learn by teh spirit, we teach by the spirit, and allow the spirit to guide us. We rely heavily upon the promptings that are given to us by the spirit. P is for the Power of the Priesthood. It truly is a power that is remarkable and can do great things if used properly and if we have faith. So grateful for the Priesthood Power. E is for everyone. Everyone can be part of this Gospel whether it is here now or doing work for the dead that have already passed before us and never had the opportunity to know about the gospel. Lastly, L is for Living Prophets. We have living prophets today, now, in our time that have been called of God. How awesome is that. We are guided by them through their teachings. They are such a strength and such a pillar of knowledge to turn to for understanding, help, and love. Bro. Wilcox broke this down for us so perfectly.
I am so glad that I was able to attend this meeting. I definately learned a lot!

Tufted Headboard...

So over the holiday break while we were staying at my inlaws we, (Becca, Meg, & Me), got this fabulous idea to make Megan a upholstered headboard for her newly remodeled room! :) Yes so out and about we went for all of the supplies...the fun part. HA I got to see Tooele at it's finest :) Anyways, we did have to go back only one time so that was really great I thought. It was much easier to do than I had imagined, but I would never be able to do the entire thing alone, a second hand is much needed. I think mainly for sanity. :) Of course we failed at all the before and afters for pictures unfortunately, but here is the complete finished product! I think it turned out super super! I love it and it is very fitting for Megan and her room ;) Thanks for the fun afternoon girlies! xoxo

Pictures courtesy of Becca ;)

Made my day!

So Sharis sent this video to me on Friday. I was actually home sick, I will not give details because that is NOT what this post is about., but I will say that THIS video definately "made my day"...hope that it uploads correctly?! :) B is the dancin' machine! haha love this girl! She has got it down especially when it gets to her "favorite" part...she got it from her mama! Way to go Bentley! xoxo AHahHA love it

Christmas vacation was so nice and relaxing. We headed out to Tooele on Friday night (Dec.23) after work and got to Kyle's Dad's house to stay for the night on our way to Idaho. I was able to meet some extended family staying there that I had yet to meet, so it was fun to get to meet Tara and Mike and their kids. We also got to see Russ and Bev there too!
Saturday we headed to my parents house and made it for a lovely Christmas Eve Dinner with my Mom & Dad, Ginny & Papa, Carli, and Kyle & I. Of course the food was delicious - some of my favorites were the Prime Rib Dad cooked and the yummy sticky buns, and of course my favorite dish...mashed potatoes and gravy! YUUUUMMMMMMYY! It was great to get to catch up with everyone.

 After dinner, Dad read to us "The Story of Christ." It was a great way to feel of the Spirit and to remember what Christmas is all about. We often get a little too distracted with buying gifts and making sure all of these crazy ideas go through well and it was nice to sit back and listen to a beautiful story about our Savior. I am so grateful for the things that I know and the things that I was taught since I was a little girl.

Christmas morning,  I was the first one up of course. I can't remember a Christmas at home where I wasn't?! Anyways, we got up and opened a few gifts together and then hurried off to get ready for church. It was so nice to have Christmas on a Sunday. Since it was though, they had a lovely Christmas program that one of the members had put together a beautiful depiction of what took place the night that Jesus was born. It was filled with stories and pretty musical numbers. It was great to see so many familiar faces in the ward while we were there too. I have so many great memories with so many of them. It is a little crazy to see some of the people around my age with multiple children...aparently I am definately slacking in that department. After church we went home and started making my favorite breakfast...Biscuts and gravy! It was soooo good. I really need to learn how to master it the way mom and ginny do. We finished opening up gifts with one another. We were seriously spoiled by our family! Holy cow we are so lucky to have such wonderful parents, brothers and sisters, and grandparents who love us so much. We truly are so blessed in our life. We couldn't be more grateful for all that they do for us continually. LOVE YOU ALL. Later on Aunt Denise and Uncle Greg and Tyler came up too. It was so great to get to see them! It is so fun that she is so much closer and get to see her that much more often!

Since there wasn't any snow anywhere, we decided to take the horses out and go for a ride. Kyle & I, Papa, Carli, and Tyler all went out on the loop from our house and down the draw by the river and back up and around. It was fun  to get out...even though it was FREEZING. As we were riding we went by where Kyle proposed to me...ahhh such great memories! :) It always is so great to be back on Maggie. I miss riding so much...so so much!

We went and stayed at the house in Boise for a few days. We caught up with Grandma Vera and went to see the new Mission Impossible movie and went to dinner over at the Olive Garden. The movie was really good...super intense the whole time. Grandma said she isn't letting dad pick the movie next time. :) It was fun to get to see her and catch up. We went over to her house after and hung out. She gave me some of the dishcloths and hangers she makes. She was so funny and made us all for Christmas this year "Bronco" slippers. Usually it is a surprise at the color we get, but this year it was all Orange and Blue! We love them! She is so talented in doing that stuff.

The next day we caught up with Grandpa Al and went to lunch with him at PF Changs. Love this place. So yummy. It was good to see him and catch up. We went over to the office and hung out for a while afterwards and hear about all thats going on. We eneded up going to the mall and made the returns we needed to and then just went back home and hung out. We watched the movie Columbiana. Holy cow that was crazy...I can't imagine a life that way. I enjoyed watching it though. A friend of Carli and I's came by. It has been forever since I had seen Adolfo. He is seriously the nicest kid ever.

When we got back home we got to help Dad and Ty move some cows to a different field too. Kyle like to have something going on when we are riding rather than just "walking the horses" as he puts it. He is so funny sometimes. Always moving. However he had to do a lot of studying over the break for his biig GMAT test that he has to take here soon. He is so dedicted to studying and doing well on this placement test. I know that he will do great! I am so proud of him.

Hung out for a few more days in GF and then stopped half way in Tooele at Kyle's Dad's house for the rest of the weekend before back to STG.

Rebecca, Megan and I decided to make Megan a upholstered headboard for her new bedroom. Holy cow...it looks so fantastic! I forgot to get a picture, but I will have to have Megan send me one of it. I really was impressed with how awesome it turned out. Now, when I have extra arms around here I will have to attempt! :) We had such a great and relaxing vacation. Now back to reality and our busy crazy hectic life!!! :)

Maaco Bowl - BSU!!

Another year that BSU just didn't get the game they should have and ended up in Las Vegas for the 2nd year in a row at the Las Vegas Maaco Bowl. BSU vs. ASU. It was on December 22 (which also happens to be my mom's birthday!) Kyle and I were able to drive down after work and head back home for work on Friday, but it was fun to get to go and watch Kelin Moore's last game as a Bronco! What a fun night we had! Hailey and Steve were able to come from Cali - Mom Dad and Car came from ID - and Ky and I came in from STG! So glad we were all able to go. What great memories we have together going to the BSU games!

It was actually pretty nice the first part of the game and then the wind came up....then it was kinda chilly!! The first play of the game BSU ran back for a touchdown from the kickoff...it was AWESOME!! What a way to start the game off! :)

Cody was working that night, so at half time he stopped by to say hi to all of us...fun to see him in uniform for the LVMPD.

We <3 our boys in blue!

What a great season that the Broncos had again! Way to take it to ASU!

It was so funny, because we were down on the front row waiting for the guys to come and high five everybody in the crowd and NONE of them were coming over. Dad was like well I'm going down there, he hops over the rail and off he went and we all followed! We, along with everyone else decided to SWARM the field to congratulate all of the boys!

Doug Martin was MVP of the game! :)

Kelin Moore - Coach Pete - Doug Martin

Kelin Moore with the Maaco Bowl Championship trophy!!! YEAH! WAy to go BSU!!

DAD - CARLI - KYLEE

Thanks Mom & Dad for another fun trip - and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOM IN THE WORLD!!! Love you mom!!!

My cute little Kruzer boy was tuckered out after our Saturday morning adventure! On Saturday morning PetSmart was having their grand opening in STG and so I decided to take Kruz Christmas shopping! Haha it was so fun! I couldn't believe it - everyone and their dog was there! They were basically throwing free stuff at us...Kruz really loved the attention, but who wouldn't right? Anyways Kruz came home with multiple toys, frizbee, sweater, T-shirt, coupons, and my favorite a picture of him on a pin! They had someone set up an area to have a picture of your dog taken and then they made a pin out of it - ya know like those proud parents of athlete pins. I know you know what I am trying to explain...I was definately a proud mama because he looked so cute in it! :) Such a successful day shopping together. I think I wore him out a bit...