Quote: "I Am A Man Of Memories"

Yesterday was such a special day. It started out pretty normal. I was watching Annie while Tanya & Eric took all the boys up the mountains to chop wood. They were gone most of the day. Tanya and I were planning to meet my sister Christa at the Conference center for the General Relief Society meeting. We were both running a little late but as soon as we were ready we were out the door! Driving from Payson to SLC takes about a hour. We had a close call, there could have been an accident but honestly we really feel we must have had angels with us. That was the first thing Tanya said to me after the meeting and I couldn't agree with her more. We were suppose to be there for that meeting. Just the feeling in the room alone was so serene. Nothing else in the world came to my mind or mattered to me. Words were spoken and I know I was hearing what the Lord needed me to through his valiant servants. I was so inspired listening to Julie B. Beck talk about the history of Relief Society. She said that studying our history helps us learn who we are. It is our responsibility to do our part in the Plan of Salvation. By rising above personal disasters and by strengthening faith and serving others we are working as the Lords hands. I love when she stated "Repair daughters of God to prepare for eternal life- is the purpose of Relief Society." I just had this feeling that I must and need to reach out to others as so many have graciously helped me find peace in my life. I was one who needed repair and I am now seeing and experiencing a whole side of life I was choosing to live with out. Repentance is so real. Forgiveness & Acceptance are such a huge part of the LDS church. We must ACT. When the Prophet stood at the podium my eyes could hide no tears. I was completely consumed by the spirit. This is the greatest feeling that exists! No doubt, wonder, guilt, anxiety.. just pure peace. One of the first things he said was "I am a man of memories." I loved it. He is such a loving man. He shared memorable experiences with us. This was the first time I had the feeling that I knew he was a man of God. He is the Prophet right now for a reason. I felt so much love and compassion for him. He explained about our thoughts and how we view each other. He said that "dirty windows make us think that the laundry we see on the line is dirty." There is no way we can know anothers circumstance or intention by their appearance. JUDGE NOT. "Judging by appearance is such a poor measure of a person." We have heard many times "Charity is the pure love of Christ." True charity is love in action. It is so important to remember others and to reach out to them. Everyone on this earth needs the loving support of someone else. I am so grateful for such a strong, spiritual giant leading and setting an example for us. President Monson left us with these words "I pray that heavens blessings may ever be yours." I thought it was beautiful! I left that meeting wanting to be a better person who is not afraid to accept any human being that I meet on my path in life.

The Power of Family

Serioulsy I have to say I have the most amazing/awesome family EVER!! I stayed at my sister Christa's last night in Salt Lake. We took the kids to the Gateway, let them play in the water, went shopping, got pizza plus I can't forget our diet coke and fresca! We also rented a movie and watched our favorite tv shows. I must say it was a fabulous night. Chrissy also made her famous rice crispies that I could not stop eating! We never get to just hangout and chill so I was loving it! Although I did have to keep peeking over at her during the movie to make sure she didn't fall asleep on me ;) Spending time with my family is definitely my favorite thing to do. Over anything else I know that I am the happiest when I'm with them. And plus they are such funny people! We just laugh and have a good time. I'm just so lucky and grateful to have my brothers and sisters as my best friends. They are so down to earth and always bring back to what life is really about. My life would not be the same with out them. They have and still do make such an impact in my life. When Chris went to bed I was going through her laptop and found all these old pictures. So all of them are hers. I decided to post them for memory sake and so I would have them.



This was a very special time in April of this year. I was so blessed to have all my family with me. There is nothing like it when we are all together.

This is all us kids in order from right to left. Yes we are backwards!

Jojo, Trav and Colyn.. this is one of my favorite pics. This is in Az.

My Daddy and I out by our pasture in College Ward


Christa and Malia visiting Grandpa & either Henry or Jameson , can't tell from this pic & yes I named them!



Love my Sister


Me and Trav at an Angels game in California one year when we were camping out at the beach
My beautiful-gorgeous-talented-caring-amazing sister!! She just had her birthday. This pic is right after I cut about nine inches off her hair. She always looks great no matter what length her hair is at. She has the most beautiful hair. Since she had her b-day I just wanted to take this chance to say how grateful I am to have her in my life. She has done so much for me. She has always been one of my greatest examples. I only hope that I can emulate her one day. It's so funny because no matter where we go people always think I'm the mom of her kids and she's younger than me. What can I say she is small and petite and will always look young! What a lucky girl. Love you sis.
Grandma and baby Malia

Me, Chris & Malia soakin up the sun in Bear Lake

Us in Brianhead
This is typical Christa when I want a good picture taken!! She thinks she is funny! ;)


This is when Christa was pregnant with her first, Malia. We were at her baby shower in Az at my sister in law Stacy's. And this is Charlotte my other sister! Today is her birthday!! This woman is so completely amazing-genuine-empathetic-crafty and loving! She always calls herself my second mom. I love it. We are 18 years apart and we have a special relationship. It's so funny that we are so far apart in age but we are also so much a like. We have a lot of the same interests and personality traits. I remember when I lived in New York she would always write to me and send packages. I use to put her oldest, Tyler who is 15 now to sleep when I rocked him on my knees. I will never forget how she made me feel so loved when I was across the states. Love you Char Char!!

Sisters in Az at Colyn & Cassies

Me and baby Izzy
Chris, Mama and Izzy boy

Christmas open house at Secret Haven a few years ago
LOVE you my sweet family!! Including my amazing sis & bro in laws and all our beautiful grandchildren

Body Image

Hello my friends and fam!! Life has been crazy busy lately. I'm in college full time, {LOVING it!} and working of course. So far I absolutely love gaining wisdom and knowledge in my academics. I especially love my writing class. Which brings me to a topic I want to write about, Body Image. If you have ever struggled with an eating disorder or known someone who has then you definitely know what I'm talking about. It can effect the clothes you wear, the places you will go or not go, your social life, love life and even your family life and so much more. You could be body checking all the time and not even notice. When I lived in Logan for a lot of the time I was so obsessed with my body. I never felt fit enough or pretty enough. Quite plainly there wasn't much I liked about myself. Not to mention I had the worst relationship with food. That might sound crazy or odd if you have never encountered this subject before but it is extremely serious. So many woman and teenagers die from starving themselves, either with Anorexia or Bulimia. You can end up gaining excess weight from where you weighed in before and be more depressed. It is a very sad mental illness. These woman and young girls constantly think about food and their bodies all day long. Forget tests at school, things they need to accomplish for work and spending time with friends or family. They are usually spending close to 100 percent of their time focusing on how they can accomplish their goal weight. Which is usually never small enough. They think if they're meeting friends for lunch or dinner how soon can they make it to a restroom alone after they've eaten? What excuses can they tell to avoid any sight of food? They can be so depressed sitting alone in their room they are perfectly content thinking about and studying their own body dreaming of how they can achieve perfection. Hours will pass just sitting in silence and you won't even notice or care because you are consumed by apathy. They can be overly dedicated and obsessed with working out to try and cope with their problem's with food and their bodies. After working in a treatment center for eating disorders and after continuous research on how to cope and change I just want to publicly stress the importance of your body and those around you. In my class we are studying the affect the media has on women in our culture and it is so sad. From each end of the spectrum in magazines, t.v., film, modeling, advertisements etc.. we see that in everything "slim is sexy". We are trained on dieting and knowing how many different types of surgeries there are out there. What if we didn't compare ourselves to today's standard in the world? I think women would be more confident, driven, have more ambition to attaining and accomplishing goals. Of course it's important to be healthy! We all need to take care of our bodies and have physical activity to be fit. It sais it all in the word of wisdom. But to what extent, which degree is too far? I had a best friend of mine tell me she couldn't even eat her birthday cake because she was getting a guilty feeling just looking at it. She said it was the strangest thing. She had never felt that way before. At that point all I could think to myself was NO! I can't let this happen to her. That's how every minute of every day was for me. Even buying one thing at the check out at the grocery store whether it was veggies or raisin bran I felt like a fatty and guilty just for buying food. We need to appreciate our bodies. We all look a little different and that is the beauty of life. Different shapes, sizes, heights and even our builds or completely different. In the Latin world as Alisa Valdes writes in "My hips, My Caderas" from the Contemporary Reader she talks about being half Cuban and half White. In the American white world she is judged for looking fat and not being a small enough size. Where as, in the Latin world men and women love her shape. In their culture and others hips are in. Women are valued for traditional roles of mother and caregiver and can dance the salsa and shake their booty. "In other cultures like {ours/mine} these roles, mother and caregiver have broken down and women try to be like men were in traditional societies-- i.e., have jobs- hips are out". It is so sad and disappointing to me how the world we live in portrays women. Having a family and children is just not important the media or world. They try to tell us that "beauty is happiness, the right labels mean success and the right look means acceptance". Our society is just so caught up in itself. I have had my dream career for seven years and now I'm back in school because I want to learn more. I think a driven woman who educates her self and attains an esteemed career is highly admirable. It is just so sad what the pressures of the world can do to do girls as young as I've seen is eleven and to women through out their lives. It's been proven that "U.S. residents are now exposed to 3,000 to 5,000 advertisements a day. As many per year as those living half a century ago". (C.R.) I just wish there was a way to change the views of magazines etc.. and the messages they send to men and women. This is something I feel seriously about. I could go on forever. Here are just a couple quotes that help strengthen me and maybe men and women out there. "I choose to live by choice, not by chance; to make changes, not excuses; to be motivated, not manipulated; to be useful, not used; to excel, not compete. I choose self-esteem, not self-pity. I choose to listen to the inner voice, not random opinions." Unknown "Why should we worry about what others think of us, do we have more confidence in their opinions than we do in our own?" Brigham young