This weekend’s adventures included:
Family time at Cornbelly’s. We had a BLAST bowling, playing in the corn beach, shooting apple blasters, shooting each other with balls in this dusty corral, pretending we know how to rope cattle, throwing baseballs, riding the hay wagon, zip lining, riding a mechanical bull, and wandering the corn maze. My family is seriously a barrel of laughs and we had way too much fun. We ended the night with a late Greek food dinner, with lots more laughs.
Saturday Randy and I had a lazy morning before heading downtown to pick up his computer from the Apple store. Of course, this lead us to a picture taking spree. Randy is SO good behind the camera! I can’t even handle it. We then of course headed to Kaysville for #freelaundry and visiting some more with family, with a heart breaking Dodger loss. But it’s ok, because I like the Cubs!
Today was just a really lazy Sunday, which both of us needed!
The other day I had a bit of an epiphany after a very sweet Visiting Teaching message was given to me. This month, and even the past few months, have been hard for Randy and I. It’s been frustrating because I feel like we’re doing everything right. But I realized that Satan makes things hard for us when we’re doing the right things, or we’re on the path to something spiritually wonderful. And if that’s what’s going on, then Satan can keep on hitting us, and we can deal with it.
Also, I’m leaving Ken Garff. But more on that later.
Now that it’s almost the weekend again, here’s a quick look at last weekend!
Friday we got to catch up with Rebecca at Thanksgiving Point over some yummy fall treats. She is so wonderful, I just love her!!!
Saturday we got to spend the day with our friends at Cornbelly’s! It was so much fun playing all the games, spending time together, laughing, and snapping pictures. We went and got dinner together after, then played games late into the night. We also ran into Randy’s brother and sister in law there, which was super random and awesome! We hadn’t seen them in a while so it was perfect.
Sunday we just went to church and taught our class, then went home to hang out with our families!
I promise more regular posts are coming friends!
Check out your Vlogging Channel on YouTube to see more details of our day to day! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZknqSUdBJedQluyn01CgJQ
Friday Randy and I got home from work and hurried to make some curry for our friends! Caleb, Nannette, Alexon, Wesley, and Danny all joined us for dinner, cookies, and lots of laughs. We chatted about the future and where our lives are headed, joked about the good ol’ days, and spent 45 minutes trying to snap a Polaroid photo without a self timer. It wasn’t overly successful.
Saturday we slept in, Randy headed out on a run, and then it was off to Kaysville (I feel like we are CONSTANTLY there!) I went to a baby shower while Randy played his electric guitar and hung out with his family! We also had dinner with his family which is always delicious and super fun!
Sunday was church, hanging out with each other, and then off to Provo for a fun dinner with my sister, and her brothers and sisters in law! We are all close to the same age so it was super fun!
This weekend was full of so much fun!
Friday Randy and I went to Kaysville to watch my sister perform in Davis High’s “Night of Shakespeare” she KILLED IT. I seriously was blown away by how spectacular she was! She did a monologue, a scene, and then the entire ensemble performed a scene. It was all incredible, I couldn’t be more proud!
We stayed up watching the BYU game on Friday night, hanging out and chatting. It was a really great game!
Saturday we went to breakfast with my family, watched a session of General Conference with Randy’s family, then went off to take some pictures for a client. I’m not a professional yet by any means, but I think they turned out pretty good! We grabbed lunch with friends, and then went back to watch more conference, make yummy treats, and hang out with my family. Randy then went to watch the Priesthood Session with his family, and I went shopping with my mom and sister, then back to the high school to see Bethany perform again. It was awesome again, who would’ve thunk!
Sunday was very relaxed as we spent time listening to Conference, playing games, eating delicious food, going up to the trail to take even more pictures, and just having a great time.
It was a pretty wonderful weekend, and the messages we heard at Conference were just wonderful – I feel so lucky to be a member of the LDS Church.
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*Photos all courtesy of @ldsconf
I have wanted to write this post for a very long time. I’ve started it and pressed backspace, I’ve shut my computer in frustration and left this draft sitting here, unnamed, un-typed, for some time.
But I have a few things I need to say. Some people won’t like them. But I can’t ignore it any more.
Lately I feel like I scroll through my social media and see post after post explaining why the LDS church didn’t work out for people. Other posts are quoting sources and then explaining how horrible it is. They are calling what they see as manipulation and hate, unfairness and injustice. All about the most important thing in my life.
So here are a few words I need to get off my heart, about choosing to stay.
1. I don’t judge your journey. So many people feel that heavy judgment about leaving the church. I’m sure there are people who are judgmental about it. They may be the same people who are judgmental about me not serving a mission, or not yet having children. People aren’t perfect. In the LDS faith, or outside of it. I have no place to judge your decisions, and I don’t. There are lots of us who don’t judge your journey. I’m not always perfect at this, but please believe I do not strive to condemn you. I don’t think I’m better than you, and I love you!
2. I have questions too. My understanding isn’t perfect. Some things don’t make sense to me. For me, that’s ok. The things I don’t KNOW for certain, I believe. I hope. “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” For me, that faith is something I’m working toward. So I may not have all the answers when we talk, but that doesn’t mean that the Gospel isn’t true.
3. I love you. Many people find the advances of others, invitations back, desires to discuss, rude and unnecessary. And sometimes they are. Please understand that for me, I approach you about it not because I’m worried you’ll go to Hell, but because the church brings me so much happiness. When you read your favorite book or see your favorite movie, you want to share it with others. You may find out it’s not to their liking at all, but that doesn’t stop you from wanting to share it with them, to make them understand why you love it so much. That’s where I’m coming from, and where many members are coming from. We love the Gospel, and want to share that happiness it brings us. If it doesn’t bring you happiness, forgive us for continuing to talk about it. We’re doing the best we can.
4. I have had tests of faith too. I have had things that have rocked my testimony, have made me question and even doubt. For me, turning to the Lord and handing it over to him, continually doing the things that He asks, brought me peace and brought me back to happiness in the church. There were days and weeks that going to church seemed horrible. When I didn’t know if anyone would listen if I prayed. But He did, and He does.
5. There is room for everyone. The LDS Church culture can sometimes be difficult. The people are flawed, we make mistakes. We’re human. But the Gospel at its core, the doctrine and the scriptures and the reality of God, is perfect. And it’s personally perfect for every single person. That I can promise.
Most of the time I don’t feel super adventurous in the kitchen, but there are a few times when I take what we have a try making something! A while ago we had a peach that was going to go bad, and I needed to use it in our dinner. I whipped something up, and Randy and I love it! So here’s my recipe for Peach Chicken.
Peach Chicken
Serves two people
Ingredients:
1 peach
2 chicken breasts or 4 chicken tenderloins
1 Tbs – 2 Tbs of brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon of soy
Creole seasoning to taste
Directions:
Slice the peach and put it in a bowl with brown sugar. Mix it around so the brown sugar and peach juice form a sort of glaze. Cut chicken (if desired) and cover with creole seasoning, to the spiciness you prefer. Cook in frying pan over medium heat until brown. Then add soy sauce and continue cooking. When chicken is almost completely cooked through, add peaches. Cook until chicken is done, and peaches are hot and cooking.
Here Is The Low Down 