You know what this means?

This means Spring is very, very near! The greatest thing about these pics is that they were taken right outside my house. I didn't even have to go to St. George for these pictures. I love the spring time for the new bright green leaves and especially the blossoming trees. I can't think of anything prettier than blossoming crab apple trees in the spring. The purple, pink, and white are so pretty together. I am looking forward to going to St. George with Amy this weekend for some fun in the sun!

New Hair!

I finally did what I've been thinking about for a long time! i went in on Saturday morning and chopped my hair! I just kept seeing so many other girls with cute short hair, and figured it was time for me to do something different. Is this different enough? I definitely think it is for me! What do you think? Ashlee, if you're reading this, go for it next time! It takes way less time to do than long hair.

It's Official.....

I'm going to Italy! Yes, you heard right, Italy! One of my best friends, Amanda, invited me to go last month and we've spent the past two weeks planning the trip. One of the best things is that my mom gets to come too! How cool is that? Amanda's husband and parents will be coming too. I really think it's going to be a great trip for us, and now that we've bought the tickets, it's really real! We are going to leave May 1st and fly in to Venice. We will visit Venice, Florence, Rome, and Sorrento, with several day trips from those four main places. We also bought our train passes on Saturday, and we only have one more city to book hotels in. After that's done, we get to do the fun part and plan what we want to see while we're there. We fly back on May 14, so we'll get a good 12 days of sight-seeing in while we're there. It's really a dream com from true for me. I'm going to Italy, me, a girl from little old Garden City, Utah, is going to Europe! I still can't really believe that it's true! One of the places that I'm most excited to see is the Amalfi Coast. Here's a great picture of it. Isn't it beautiful? If anyone has been to Italy and has any suggestions, let me know. I'm now starting my count down for the trip. We're under two months now!

Go Jazz!!!

We went to the Jazz game on Monday night. Yes, this was our 4th game within one month! We have had tons of fun going to the games. Lindsey and Mollie got to come with us this time, and we had a great time watching Kyle Korver make 6 3-point shots that night! It was AMAZING!!! We were sitting in the "lucky" section that got the little blow-up noise makers. We are lucky to have been to 4 games, all of which the Jazz won! I don't think I've been into the Jazz this much since John Stockton and Karl Malone played. It's so much fun to have a good, winning team!

Winter Snow!!!

We are seriously living in a winter wonderland right now! I can't believe how much snow we got here in Bear Lake. It's been snowing since before we woke up and it's now almost 12:00 and it hasn't even let up. I don't know now, maybe we won't even be able to make it back to Utah Valley today. I really love the snow and I hope the lake fills up this year because it's so much better to have it full. Hope you like the pics of the winter wonderland!

My Calling

So, I have a great calling in my ward. I'm the "teachings of our time" Relief Society Teacher, and I really LOVE it! I have never been a Relief Society teacher before, so I never knew how awesome of a calling it is, and how much it is really just for me. I have learned alot in my prepartion and I'm SO grateful for it. This past week I taught the lesson on Pres. Monson's talk, a Royal Priesthood. Now, I'll have to admit that I didn't have the best attitude to begin with because it was a talk given in the Priesthood session and I thought it was going to be a talk mostly for the men. Once I finally decided to read the whole talk and put some effort into it, I found that it was an amazing talk, and one that every member of the church should read, and apply in their own lives. He talks about how we each as members of the church need to obtain some specific characteristics in our lives; namely, vision, faith, effort, virtue, and prayer. Wow! It's such a great talk. The one thing that stuck out to me was that effort is a good thing, not always easy, but it's totally worth it. I decided to put forth some extra effort into my lesson and I even went as far as making hand outs! Yay! I actually made hand outs and everyone loved them!
I, like my friend Amy, didn't really make goals at the beginning of this new year. Sure, I have some things on my mind, but I didn't really write them down. After reading and studying this talk, I decided that I have several things that I need to work on, but they're all very "do-able". Each of these characteristics, or marks, as Pres. Monson refers to them, are qualities that each of us need to develop and better our lives through them. I am so happy to have this calling and know that I will be blessed as much as the effort that I put into my calling.




It's going to be hard to not have Pres. Hinckley around anymore, but his death is such a bittersweet thing. I am so happy that he is back with his lovely wife and that he was able to serve right up until the day that he passed away. Pres. Hinckley obviously developed all of these marks long ago and has been such a wonderful example to everyone around, church members or not. It's amazing to me how many temples have been built and planned since he became the president. I think it's wonderful! So many more members of the church are now able to enjoy the blessings of the temple. I also loved how Pres. Hinckley was not afraid of the media. He was willing to sit down with people and share his beliefs and he could answer any question that they had without blinking an eye. Another thing I won't forget are the "Be's" that he talked about. He just made everything so simple. I also really loved his sense of humor, and the way that he would wave his cane around as he walked into the conference center. He is definitely going to be missed.

Lindsey Turns 19!

Yesterday Linds turned 19! I can't beleive that my baby sister is 19, it's so CRAZY! Jackie came down early in the day and we surprised Lindsey at work with cupcakes at break time. She was so excited to see Jackie and McKenna, and I was so proud of myself for keeping their visit a secret! We tried to go to The Olive Garden last night, but the wait was an hour and 45 minutes, so we decided to go to Ottavio's instead. I think it was delicious and the atmosphere was great! They had a guy there who played the accordian. He came to our table and played a few songs that the girls requested. It was awesome! Lindsey really liked it when all of the servers sang Happy Birthday in Italian, accompanied by the accordian. It did sound really pretty. After dinner, we all came back to my house for cupcakes. As you can see, McKenna loved the cupcakes! She actually ate that one before we went to dinner and before we frosted it, so it was a little less messy! She was so good all day and really so much fun! Linds had alot of friends from her ward come over and they all ended up playing karaoke in the basement for a few hours. It sounded like they had a great time. Melynda, Shea, Jackie, and I all stayed upstairs and played Buzz Word, a game that Linds got for her birthday. It was a really fun time!