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.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Road Trip!!

For Memorial Day, my sister Cassi and I headed out on a bit of a road trip up to Moscow, Idaho to see my other sister, Traci and her family. We had a great time on and off the road. Though the weekend went by too fast and I was exhausted from school and other activities, we had a blast! It was so good just to spend time with them all! Here's some fun pictures of our trip!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Back in Touch

Alright, time for a little more back-blogging to show the start of my summer. When I first got home there was a lot going on. Not only did I get to spend time with my family who still lived in Rexburg (Mom, Dad, Cassi and Jeff) but my sister Traci and her family, as well as Scott and his family came for week-long visits. It was so great to spend so much time re-connecting with them all and getting to know my nieces all over again, as well as meeting Ella for the first time.
Here's a quick re-cap:
The Rexburg Temple was completed and dedicated while I was gone and something I looked forward to so much! I know you can't see it really great in this picture, but you get to see the beautiful Idaho sunsets as well so I love it!

It was always an adventure when any one of my nieces was around... Lainy stole everyone's heart with her sweet voice and beautiful blue eyes, and also took a preference to the dog door,


Ella turned a year old, was stripped down, and only ate the chocolate cookies off her cake all nice and neat, but did start walking!! She's also famous for her beautiful eyes and "Ella Shuffle!"


Kayt is the oldest of the three and loves it! She's fabulous at playing dolls, on the tramp and being a "Princess of God." She is a princess that's leads the trio perfectly!


Aside from adventures with the nieces, which Grandpa just soaked up...
we also had an all-star to watch in softball games and later, after her big 16th Birthday bash, get all glamored up and go to her first dance/date! Our little Cass is quite the grown, talented and beautiful young woman!

I found Jeffy-boy to also have come completely into his own, sharing his love and talents with all around him, also with a plan to really share his love as a missionary. The week after I got home from my mission he received his mission call. Traci was leaving that day, my mom was in Utah picking up Scott, Kris and the girls and Jeff told us if it came that day he was going to take it into the woods to open it on his own first. We didn't believe him but wondered how he was going to accommodate everyone. Sure enough though, the white envelope arrived and he took off to the woods. Within a half hour or so he'd returned and we gathered and got mom on the phone as he read it to us. In this video I stopped it before all the hugs and most of the shouts and smiles, but we were all really excited for him, and so was he! Here's what happened....


Jeff and my friend Taylor also got me to venture out on my first long boarding experience. We had a great time and it was a lot of fun to see Jeff and Tay so comfortable on the boards doing all sorts of things (one of the many situations Jeff is in his element). I did try it and made it down a big hill without falling....while sitting on the board. But then I stood up and practiced on a little hill. For a while I seemed to be getting it better than I'd expected, and as soon as that thought crossed my mind I got nervous at a turn and bailed off the board. The result you can see on my hand....this happened to be the day before I spoke in church- my parents were thrilled to have me speak, especially since I talk with my hands as well, in front of hundreds of people with a big, red scrape on my hand.
Now that I think of it, maybe this event was my downfall, the tip of the iceberg to the many amazing falls, burns and other mishaps that the summer has been full of....