A few things...

Lately I have been blessed with some pretty profound and also not so profound moments that have caused me to think about the things I love and am grateful for. Hardly ever do I record or even decide on favorite things or specific loves, but I probably should more often. Here's a list of a few things I love and have learned lately, but in no particular order.

It may sound odd, but I love physical labor. I love getting up early and working hard by myself, where I can use lots of energy and either think or just work mindlessly. It's therapeutic.Along with work, I love to do dishes, the old way by hand-washing them in the sink. That doesn't mean I want to do that for my occupation or anything, but there's just something I love about it.
Most who know me would know that sweets are a passion or maybe just a weakness of mine, but I do love them (particularly brownies and lemon bars)
What you may not know, is that I could eat any kind of fruit all day everyday if allowed and my fridge supplied.As most would say, I love family, and I really do. I love the blessings of having people who know, understand and want to understand you better. Who are the ultimate examples in their lives and push you harder to be all you can be, and who love you without restraint. I love being able to be there for them too. I love my family for being all of this and so much more.I love music, but moreso I love the quiet or the soft sound of waves, allowing you complete freedom to think or talk without distraction.One thing I've always deeply loved, that has been growing particularly strong lately is the temple. I love the peace and happiness you feel and see on everyone's faces, the opportunity to serve with all your heart and soul, and all the comfort and love, as well as answers you receive there.
I find the sky fascinating. The incredible colors in the sunsets, uniquely shaped clouds, and amazing stars (and I love the mountains)
I heard a poem once that talked about being grateful for our "thorns". This may sound odd, but I love pressure and expectations, as well as trials. They're always hard, and it's their nature to be. But I love trusting and being trusted with things that will test and try me, pushing me to my limits and thensome, but molding me into something better in the process.
I love people. This is something I have been taught and felt, and hope I'm able to show it.I love to listen. In the busyness of the day I love taking the time to feel and listen, to the yearnings and feelings of others as well as my own.In the end I am so blessed to love all of these things and so much more, and I'm grateful for them. And even with all the little quirks and things that I have in my life, I love to be me, the goobery one that I am, and I love it when others can be themselves, without hesitation.

Conferences, Friendships and Mardi Gras

Mid-October Bekah and I headed to Utah for a week-long National Parks and Recreation Association Conference. While there we went to some great classes and saw amazing exhibits. Everything you can imagine that has to do with play was there, including an amazing Viking helmet of sorts that I was given and privileged to wear around for a day. You wouldn't believe the looks I got... until people realized I got it there and hadn't brought it with me just to wear, and then they wanted one too!

After the Conference we met up with Tay and did baptisms in the Salt Lake City Temple! It was my first time there and was incredible! Oh my word, the history and detail in that building is incredible, not to mention the amazing work that goes on as well. Then we went to pick up Jeanie at the airport, who was flying in from Florida to visit. Tay and I taught Jeanie on the mission. We had a great weekend together and with Tay's family!

The next weekend was Halloween. Bekah and I hosted a Murder Mystery Dinner Party at my house. Tay and her sister, Tanna, came up and others came as well. It was an awesome group who really acted their parts, accents, personalities and all. We had quite the investigative discussion and eventually the murderer was revealed....

It was quite the two weeks, all the while being in school and working, but was so much fun! I'm so glad to have friends that are willing to work hard and then let loose and have a good time!

(I know there's a lot of pictures, but they are some pretty great ones)

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Amazingness....

Take a look: No, I'm not showing off my earrings. Take a closer look... I could claim it's from the HUGE oven at Great Harvest that I practically have to climb in to take the bread out of, but....that would not be entirely true. It is what you think it is. Moral of the story: don't try to curl your hair when it's 4 o'clock in the morning and you're still half-asleep...

Semester Happenings: Potato Land

Wow, apparently I'm quite the slacker when it comes to blogging and journal writing. Sooooo much has been happening that I haven't recorded! But, you'll be happy to know that I do have pictures for a lot of the big stuff, so it should be a fun update.

September was the month school started again, and also marked the annual East Idaho State Fair! I love fairs because they're packed full of crazy-good and fattening foods and tons of interesting people. We went down twice and definitely had our share of both and had a great time. The first night we found the most amazing thing...The Idaho Potato Museum!! My life was complete after this moment...okay so not really, and the museum was closed so the guys climbed on the HUGE potato for a fun picture.

Then we headed for the real fair and a BMX dirt-bike trick show. I haven't ever been into dirt bikes and everything they do with them, but this show was pretty awesome. There were backflips, full-extensions and even "captain" tricks pulled time after time. Their final trick was jumping a snowmobile on dirt, and doing a backflip with the snowmobile....turns out he didn't make the full rotation and the machine landed on him on the ramp. The whole place went completely silent! It was so scary but he ended up walking off, painfully. Check out the video to see it.

After the show we got some funnel cakes, which I'd never tried before. Shocking, I know. Everyone else was shocked too, but it turned out neither Jake or Scott had either, so we all got a fabulous taste of the fried goodness. And it was so good! The next time I got it with fruit though and would totally recommend the fruit. We were a little crazy excited, can ya tell?

We had fun looking at the animals, especially the HUGE horses for Bekah, and trying on some fun hats. What do you think? :)

Big Stuff...

So, I've been back-blogging a bit lately and forgetting to give updates on what's going on now. PS, my black-blog posts show up as being posted earlier for some reason, so if you're interested in hearing about some summer events then check the so-called, "older" posts.

Big stuff has been happening lately so I'll do a quick re-cap:
1) NIH: National Institute of Health Recreation and Welfare Association
I've been searching for internships in Seattle, Washington DC, and Utah and have talked to a lot of people but have had a lot of headaches, as no one knows about internship or recreational job opportunities. However, I contacted NIH one Tuesday, had a phone interview on Friday and after communication over the next week and a half, I was informed I had the internship if I wanted it!
The recreation program at NIH is the 3rd largest and best in the country. They plan recreation and leisure activities for the employees (many who are Doctors), cancer patients and others in their hospitals, families of patients, and other organizations like NBC, etc. Their events range in all sorts of areas, like relays, trips to cultural events, rooftop balls, carnivals, crafts, ski trips, etc. I'll be there from January through April and one of my first weekends I'll get to take kids with cancer out to the "slopes" and teach them how to ski! I can do that! This is the best opportunity I've looked at, and the one I actually got! So, I'm really excited, nervous cuz it's the big leagues, but excited! My Dad isn't very keen on the fact that I'll be moving across the country, but he's excited about the experience it'll provide me. Scott and Kristen with their girls are living there now, and Tiff, Kurt and Kylee live out there as well, so it'll be great to be around family also! I just wish Trace, Brad, Lainy, and new baby girl on the way, could be out there as well.
I'm headed to a National Recreation and Parks conference in Salt Lake this next week, and unless some grand opportunity for an internship presents itself there then it looks like I'm headed to DC! My friend Bekah and I went to I.F. the day I found out and ate at Five Guys in honor of DC! Love it!

2) I woke up Monday morning and my mom said, "Merry Christmas!!" I was so confused and then it hit me...I ran to pull the drapes back from the windows....SNOW!!!! It was October 5th!! Even though it was snowing when we should be enjoying the new crispness of fall weather and leaves changing on the trees, I was so excited all day long! I'm not hoping it stays, not right now. But there's something magical about the first snowfall that just brings out the little girl in me. :) The memories of snowforts and late night walks as the snow softly falls, snow angels, catching it on your tongue or looking closely at the crystals in one small flake. Memories of Christmas movies, and singing Christmas carols from October through May, or watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (Jim Carrey style) every first snow while Trace and I sing along with little Cindy LooHoo. I know the magic wears off after the snow has stayed for a long time and is hard on the ground, but then it snows again and it's back! Particularly the first snow, whenever they're big flakes falling softly it seems to blanket our little neck of the world in peace and quiet for a small moment, causing everyone who allows it to take a moment and smile at the sound, beauty and amazing memories. (This is the first winter snow as a missionary in St. Louis 2007)

The Mish at Home!

Serving as missionaries you meet so so many wonderful people who become like family to you. It wasn't any different for me either and I've been blessed to stay in touch with many of them. Also, because of the fact that I live in a place where a lot of LDS college students attend school, and just a few hours from Salt Lake City, I hadn't been home for more than 4 months before I saw all of these families who I worked with and who helped us out so much on the mission. Between the Chatlands from Poplar Bluff, Waggoners/Duffins from Salem, Hoods from Nashville (Illinois), Sisters ME (McLane from Alton, Illinois and Early from Logan, UT who served together in the Mission Office and are the sweetest ladies you'll ever meet), and the Zenger's from Frontenac that's someone from every one of my areas throughout my time in the Missouri St. Louis Mission. Families are forever and mission family and experiences are never forgotten.

Overdoing it just a bit...

Today I went over to see my friend Kassie. We had a great afternoon chatting, going on a walk, trying to keep her son Kaden out of the road, and just hanging out. It had been a long time since I'd seen her and it was a great visit!

Well, before I left I was helping her get some dinner ready for she and her husband. She decided on steaks, but hadn't ever worked the grill, so I decided I'd start it for her. I'd started many a grill before, so no big deal right? I turned on the gas and the burner and tried the starter...no go. It didn't light. So, we grabbed the matches. As I'm standing by the grill, practically over it and lighting the match Kass says to me,

"Um...isn't it going to kinda...blow up...when you throw the match in?"

I responded with, "Nah! It'll pop a bit when the gas catches the flame, but the flame won't go out of the grill..."

As I said that I stuck the match in the hole on the side of the grill.....and sure enough! A huge flame erupted out of the grill, engulfing my face and hair with a loud wwwooossshhh and a quick sssssiiinnnggge....

No joke! No worries though! My face didn't get burned, which is extremely lucky, but quite a bit of my hair has been singed to a little shorter and quite a bit more fuzzy length, but man does burnt hair stink! We tried to take pictures of the curly little hairs and pieces of burnt hair strewn all over my head, but they just looked like I have super fuzzy hair. I'd just got it cut too! We'll see how much Rach has to cut off to fix it tomorrow....

I don't know about you, but I think we're overdoing the clutziness and amazingness just a little bit this summer....makes for good stories though!

And....I'm Wet!

Dating is full of awkward moments that hopefully we're all able to laugh about, and laugh together. After coming home from a mission it was more awkward than usual for a while until I got used to it again, and I had a lot of blind dates and classic mishaps to break me in fast!

On one of these dates, not blind this time, we went four-wheeling to Pack Saddle Lake in the mountains. I was told to bring a swimsuit because we'd either swim there or find a hot spring later to get into. I brought a suit and towel but told my date I was leaving it in the car until we went to the hot springs because swimming in a mountain lake after dark didn't appeal to me with a lot of people I didn't know, for my first time swimming since I'd been back. Everyone else had their stuff but didn't fully intend on getting in either.

The four-wheeler ride was great! It's so fun cruising around in the mountains and it was definitely beautiful! I love the mountains! When we got to the lake everyone split up to go fishing, start a fire, or explore around. My date and I headed over to a rope swing. We took turns swinging out over the lake on the rope a few times and then he decided to make it more exciting. He climbed up on some logs that made the swing from a lot higher and the drop a lot more. Everything went well when he swung and it seemed like lots of fun. Of course, I couldn't be outdone....not smart.....so I climbed the logs to swing from higher too. Right as I was jumping I had the terrible feeling that I was going to fall. Now, I was fully dressed with a t-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes, my swimming attire was back in the car. It was a thrill as I swung out...until I felt my hands slipping at the extent of the swing...so it was either fall in the middle of the lake or at the edge where the possibilility of landing on poky branches was real good. In I went, in the middle, fully under and completely wet.... (this picture obviously isn't me, but it's the same rope swing).

Oh man, I couldn't believe it! I've seen people fall into lakes and stuff before, and I'm definitely not the most graceful person in the world, but clumsiness to that degree just doesn't happen to me! I dreaded facing everyone when I came up out of the water. Of course, everyone saw and was shocked and sooo worried about me freezing, (one girl who had her swimsuit on under her clothes was a sweetheart and said she'd just wrap up in a towel and I could wear her clothes) but I was more embarrassed than worried about that. It was embarrassing but dealing with the wet hair and cold wasn't a big deal...

A good thing was that it broke the ice with the group really fast and because I fell in and was all wet, my date jumped in too and a few other guys did in their swimsuits. After we were all wet we had a great time swinging and jumping into the lake! And I didn't freeze because others had extra clothes they made me wear. I came home in an extra shirt my date had and some extra shorts of one of my dad's employees, who was also my dates' friend.

O-H-I-O!!!

In June we headed out to Ohio for Scott's big graduation from Ohio State.
Dad and Jeff left early and visited Church history sites in New York and met up with Mom, Cassi and I in Cleveland. The boys had a great trip and the girls had fun traveling to meet them!
Once in Cleveland we hit both ends of the spectrum with worldly vs. spiritual: The Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, a Cleveland Indians baseball game, then Historic Kirtland and the temple as well as the John Johnson Farm. We had a great time throughout it all. The Indians game was a bit boring so we left in the 7th or 8th inning and right as we left it got exciting...of course, even to the point that the winning run was scored on a line drive that the center fielder missed because it bounced off a bird! The poor bird didn't fly too well after that, but Kayt sure enjoyed her cotton candy!
Kirtland was a really neat place to be for many reasons. Amazing things in church history occurred there, particularly many key revelations and appearances, and even though that was many years ago there is still a divine spirit felt. Sitting in the place where they held the school of the prophets, or in the temple or John Johnson farm and considering the witnesses who lived their testimonies of Christ in so many ways. So much sacrifice, so much faith and diligence among those who lived there that has helped us to be where we are today...a neat experience.












Cleveland and hotel rooms weren't complete without a bit of rambunchiousness :) ...and we wonder where we all get it from.... (sorry it's sideways!) but notice how it doesn't phase Cass at all? Love it!


On our way to Columbus we stopped in Kidron, OH for a little glimpse of Amish country and found an awesome store. Did you know- the orange caution triangle you see on Amish wagons and other things was created at Ohio State to protect the Amish people from getting hit by cars on dark country roads...interesting...
In the car and in Columbus at Scott and Kris' home and elsewhere we had a great time. Scott and Kris were nice enough to put up with me in their car, and I had a blast with them and the little girls. We did a lot of things but were mainly there to celebrate Scott's graduation with his Masters degree in Accounting, so here's a little something just for him.

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