In no particular order:

We had a bon fire

We went climbing

(I did an eleven plus!)

We had a girls night

Life is good

Once upon a time....

We went on a walk!

Yes, this was back in May-ish.

It's fine.

In Loving Memory

The 24th of July started out like any other day. I had decided to float the Oneida River with some friends. 

the group

I had been hearing about floating the Oneida since I moved here, and I was finally going to get the chance to experience it for myself!

the tubes
(mine in the cute one - it was on sale!)

I was afraid of being left alone on the river, so a group of us (probably about 8ish) tied our tubes together as we floated down. 

I was put in charge of keeping the sunflower seeds dry. It was an excellent job with great benefits
(i.e. no one would flip me over and I had free snacks whenever I wanted)

With Tyler and Jordan who put me in charge of the sunflower seeds
(Heidi should be in this picture too, but she opted to take it instead)

Everything was going along smoothly, until we realized we were heading straight for a rock!
The current was faster than anticipated, and we were suddenly on top of it (literally). 

Actually, Heidi was on top of the rock. My tube went on top of Heidi's and before I knew it, I was in the water.
(Somehow, Heidi managed not to flip!)

my lonely sandal

My first thought (after realizing I was in the water) was for the sunflower seeds. I had failed! My second thought was for my beloved sandals, which had been loose in the tube. I found one in the water, but alas, the other was lost forever.

in mourning

I was pretty devastated.

I wore black to the fireworks that night, in mourning for my lost sandal.

At the fireworks - Kalli, Jana, me & Carlie
This picture is mainly in here so that Kalli can be officially represented on my blog!

On the bright side, it made a nice object lesson for my Gospel Doctrine class on Sunday!

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

I have been through a lot with those sandals.

They are my go-to shoes, and have been on adventures of all kinds, big and small - rivers, hiking, camping, traveling, work, and even church!
They pretty much work for any and all occasions.

- England -
top left is the St Pauls Cathedral ("feed the birds" steps)
bottom left is the London Bridge

- France -
bottom middle is Mt Saint Michel

- Italy -
Venice!

- Austria -
The crazy house that I don't remember the name to, but it's cool

- Spain -
most of these are at the Alhambra
also, the top left is the best kebab (the only food I had twice while in Europe. i still crave it on occasion)

bike ride!

riding horses!

swimming!

rafting!

fun times with friends - shoe stealing wars!
(they are the ones still on my feet, in case you were confused) 

more fun times with friends - four wheeling (or at least pretending)

hiking!

redwoods!

my sandals

So long sandals.

You are missed.

<3 

Movie Reviews

It has been a week full of movies!

First up: Mona Lisa Smile

I seriously love this movie so much! However, I will say up front that a lot of people do not like this movie. It is not one to watch passively.
All the characters are so deep and it makes you stop and think (or at least it should). I'm still thinking about it! One of my all time favorites.

Next up: Ramona & Beezus

Such a cute movie! I may or may not have cried - like tears streaming down my face crying.
I had to take a few minutes after it ended to collect myself so I could see through my tears to drive home safely. It's just so sweet!
Granted, I'm pretty sure I was overly emotional that day (I honestly don't know why) and if you watched it you would probably laugh at me for crying.... which, again, I may or may not have done....

Moving on: Pacific Rim

After institute Spencer invited us to see Pacific Rim.
I said I had never even heard of it before. His response: "Just go with no expectations and it will be good."
You probably shouldn't pay eight dollars something cents for a movie you have no expectations for. But apparently I did!
The whole idea of a giant robot punching a dinosaur in battle, most of which took place in the ocean, was just a bit much for me.
It was fun to be out with friends....

On a better note: Despicable Me 2

We went to the drive in to see Despicable Me 2 which makes any movie better! Both the movie and atmosphere were a lot of fun.
Agent Lucy Wilde kind of reminds me of Sierra  :)

Last, but not least: New in Town

A heart warming film, slightly Hallmark-esque. It will make you smile  :) 

It's been a good movie week.

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p.s.  I promise I do other things with my life besides just watch movies.
We also went night climbing this week! That was an adventure, and I have the scrapes and blood to prove it!

Good Foods Friday

Last Friday we had a "Good Foods Friday"

It was a party!

We only had one minor incident....

I was put in charge of documenting the event.

(I'm not even just saying that, I really was!)

I decided to take on the extra task of entertainment as well.

We played frisbee, and only had it go over the fence a few times.

Waiting for the food to cook

The finished product!

It was delicious.

So happy  :)

Learning to Love My Calling

It was my turn to teach sunday school and I really didn't want to teach on the priesthood. I swear, we have been talking about the priesthood for the past two months. And not just in sunday school, but also in Elders Quorum / Relief Society. As great as the priesthood is, I think we're all a little burned out on the subject. So I presented my case and asked if I could please teach something other than the priesthood. Anything! I was granted permission to choose my topic. Hallelujah!

About a year ago I started listening to conference talks as I'm getting ready in the morning.

I love doing this! It always starts my day out right and I would highly recommend it to everyone.

Anyway, remember how my last General Conference experience was kind of shot?

Well, I have now officially listened to and/or read every talk in the conference Ensign! (some multiple times)

So in choosing my topic to teach on, I immediately turned to two of my favorite conference talks that I had just marked the day before.


Listen to the full talk here

Listen to the full talk here
My favorite!

I actually really enjoyed preparing for this lesson and I think it went over really well!
We were combined with another ward and I was the only teacher, so it was a huge class. I received several compliments, and am still receiving compliments! It's good for me to hear because I honestly feel so inadequate! I think I'm finally getting it down though.

I strongly encourage you to listen to the full talks.
They are amazing.

Can I just say how much I really do love General Conference?

I really do. It is so great!

Ok, that's all.

Life is good.

:)

Patience

click here to see the before and after. it's pretty impressive  :)

I feel like patience is being forced upon me in all aspects of my life wether I like it or not!

Patience at work 

(some patients can really try my patience!)

Patience in my calling

Patience with roommates

Patience in dating

Patience with the internet

(it's been spotty and was completely down for the past day and a half!)

Patience with the temperature

Patience with myself

Patience

Patience

Patience

I never realized I was such an impatient person!

Apparently this is a lesson I really need to learn. 

Hopefully I learn it soon so I can move on with the next lesson!

There I go being impatient again....

p.s.  patience is a weird word when you say it this many times.

Life These Days

Pie night at Village Inn

Katie & Mary

These girls are my faithful sunday school goers! Love them!

Just for fun

this is the picture we put on the slideshow with the awesome app

Carlie and I crashed Trent's brother's wedding! It was so fun to see Trent again!

I loved this wedding!

They had this cool app where you could take a picture with your iphone and it would put it on the slideshow that was playing. 

I will have that at my wedding. haha!

Climbing

We (usually Tony, Cullen, Carlie, and I) try to go climbing at least once a week.

One day Carlie and I kept climbing by ourselves after Tony and Cullen had left! We were so proud of ourselves. 

Carlie did her first 5.10 and she didn't even cheat!

This was Jana's first time climbing! I am so proud of her  :)

Cullen had already gone climbing earlier that day and I had to prepare my sunday school lesson 

so we couldn't stay and climb, but we decided to pop in and say hi. 

Photo bomb! This is one of the awesome guys that works there. 

Can I just say how much I love all those guys!

Pot Luck

Every Sunday we have Pot Luck. We have so much fun and such tasty food!

This week the topic of conversation was "If you could marry any food, what would it be?"

Jana chose potatoes and Cullen said Pie.
Cullen is known for making delicious potato dishes, and Jana likes to make pie.
Everyone knows the foundation for a good relationship is food!
Need I say more?

breaking the touch barrier

They were a little shy about it at first, but things progressed quickly.

showing off their calves

They have a lot in common - Pie and Potatoes are just the beginning!

They also both like climbing, sushi, long naps, and their children would have awesome calves! 

They are perfect for each other!

On a different note, the toy company has really stepped it up these days! 

Kalli & Jana

Me & Jana
I'll work on getting a picture with Kalli for the next blog post

I'm pretty much with Kalli and Jana all the time. It's great. 

Life is good.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Winner, Winner!

Friday was Dave's birthday, so we had a poker night.

Guess what!? I dominate in poker!

We started with Craps and I am pleased to say that I continue to hold the record for undefeated first place in the tournament! I still don't fully understand what I'm doing, but Dave didn't have to tell me I was doing illegal things as often, so I think I'm progressing at least. (It's all luck)

Satisfied with my win, I was ready to go home and get some sleep along with everyone else who had come that night. I had my coat on, keys out, when somehow I found myself back at the table for a game of Hearts. Everyone else had left and it was just me and the boys. I thought I had played Hearts before, but apparently I was wrong. Add that to the fact that I was super tired and the boys all thought I was the poor girl to be pitied. Yeah right! I showed them all up and took first place! The best part is that, unlike Craps, I actually knew what I was doing and played strategy. I love card games!

I'm ready for Vegas, baby!

(not really)

Chicken Dinner!

Good news! Last week my lesson went really well! 

(yes, I know it is slightly ironic that I go from poker to the gospel. such is life!)

After we were all joking about how I was ready for the big class now! My class currently consists of about 15 people max and I am perfectly happy to keep it that way. Dave told me, "Your style works really well for a small class like this, but I don't think it would work very well in the big class." Thanks Dave  :) 

Thursday night I got a call from Ted, my Sunday School guy who is seriously the best! Apparently with Spring Break this weekend, there were no teachers to teach.... except me! I would be in the big room and it would be all combined into one class. Talk about intimidating! I kept hearing Daves words ringing in my ears. 

The topic was the applying the Atonement in our life, and it was so good for me to study at this time! The lesson went really well and there was a lot of really good discussion. I had several compliments after and one guy even asked for the talk I had referenced.  I made cookies so people would remember them instead of the lesson just incase it didn't go over too well (which, thankfully it did!) They were a big hit.... even with having twice as much oil as was called for. oops!

Now we all know I can teach the big class, so I never have to do it again! Right?  :)

And now it's on to the Chicken Dinner part of the day at Pot Luck! I'm so excited! I better get my cans of fruit ready.

Getting the hang of this?

I've mentioned before that I am called to teach Gospel Doctrine at church and it is very intimidating for me, to say the least.
But, incredibly, I think I might be getting the hang of this!

This week my lesson is on the Resurrection and I'm actually feeling ok about it!

Shocker, I know.

At least my testimony has been strengthened!

Hopefully I can bring the spirit to touch my little class as well.

Sleep Over!

Last night we made good use of our extra beds and had a sleep over!

we had fun "unlocking the vault" and creating projects/operations for us to work on  :)

We somehow managed to fit 6 beds into my room. 

It was quite the accomplishment

This is the after math

Love these girls!

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On a different note, we have the cutest neighbors ever! This is Jake shoveling our walk for us. 

And yes, he is wearing shorts and cowboy boots.

I love my life  <3