oh hi

Wow.

I haven't blogged since July.

Part of that is because I had the most amazing and eventful summer ever. Seriously, guys. I don't think I could have imagined it going any better. I completed everything on my summer to do list. I have never done that before. So that was a huge deal for me. 

I guess I would have blogged about that but then autumn came.

I had a hard time welcoming autumn into my life. It was the end of my summer and I really mourned the loss of it. It was the end of having my family out of school, people to hang out with, warm weather to play in, sunsets at 9pm. Seriously, everyone. I'm drooling thinking about summer time. I miss it so much it hurts.

Autumn for me usually means a lot of change. It used to mean a new semester at school, moving, a new ward, new people to meet, and a new calling. I think subconsciously I was freaking out about having everything in my life change, even if it wasn't really going to happen. I was dreading it because life had been very happy. This is the first year since I graduated high school that I haven't moved and changed wards in the fall. So all this dreading change was really unnecessary. Everything stayed normal and I didn't need to freak out. 

So I'm sorry I freaked out a little bit. It was almost like I was waiting for something to drastically change and make my life a little bit harder. But it never came, and I'm so grateful.

*Although I did get a new calling. And everyone I liked moved out of our ward and a whole bunch of new people came. And next week we get a new bishopric. So I guess the change was delayed. But I'm still happy.

New York

I was so excited when I realized that I could go to New York this summer to visit my mom's side of the family. I was even more excited when my brother in law consented to let me steal Lauren and Kent to come with me for a weekend. My mom was planning to be there for two weeks, so we decided to join her for my cousin Amy's graduation party and my cousin Katy's bridal shower. 

I haven't been on a plane in four years. The last time was when I came back from Korea to the US. So I was so excited get to fly again. We left on Thursday morning and caught our flight. We first flew to Denver, then to Washington DC, then to our destination in Syracuse, NY. 

We looked up all the tips to traveling with an almost 2 year old and I think he did very well. He was entertained by the take off and landing. He sat with his momma very well. He loved when they passed out juice. And on our flight to DC, which was the longest flight, he slept for two hours. Victory!

Our second flight, to DC, ended up a little bit late and we had a half hour to run (almost literally) to the other side of the airport and make our next flight. We had a strolled for the little guy and had to take elevators, because apparently, who ever designed this airport decided it would be awesome to make all flights arrive on one side of the airport and depart on the opposite side, while making you go up and down repeatedly to get there. We literally went on like 8 elevators, and some how made it to the flight with maybe 5 minutes to spare. I'm glad our luggage made it too. By the time we got to Syracuse we were exhausted. 

My uncle David gave us a ride out to our grandma's house where we were staying. He's such a nice guy. We had fun hearing about his job, the country side, and how you would see and hit deer with your car all the time if you lived out that way.

Aunt Betty and Grandma

Grandma's House

We made it to grandma's and promptly got ready for bed. It was 12am their time and 10pm ours, but we were tired.

Little guy woke up every morning around 7. The sun likes to shine bright, even though it was only 5am our time. We woke up friday morning and ate breakfast Dunkin' Donuts style and got ready to go for the day. We visited my Grandpa Amos's grave. Then we decided to make the ride to the Sacred Grove and to Hill Cumorah, very special places to our church's history. We had been there before, but we were pretty young and didn't remember much, so we were excited to go again.

Lowy took a bite of everyone's donuts

We went to the visitor center for the Hill Cumorah and then drove up the hill to the monument and took a few pictures. It was so beautiful and green there. We drove down the road a little ways to the Sacred Grove and to the Farm House that Joseph Smith and his family lived at during the time of the first vision and him growing up. Such a humble house and a sweet feeling standing where the family had lived. We walked around with a missionary who told us about the history and then she left us to have time in the Grove to walk around and take in the beauty.

I recited the first vision for my family in Korean. I would have done it in English, but I know it better in Korean. :) It was great to be there knowing what I know about the church and how much God loves us. It was a special moment. We walked around and were happy. It was beautiful.

We went home that night and ate dinner at my Aunt Donna's house. My grandma, Great Aunt Betty, my Cousin Patrick and his wife and son, and Aunt Beth and Cousin Emily and her boyfriend joined us. It was fun seeing people I hadn't seen in 12 years! I can't believe it had been that long. Kent liked seeing their tractors and running down the hill. Their house is on a beautiful piece of land. It's so green. The whole town is just gorgeous. 

We usually went to sleep around 10 o'clock and got up at 7. Saturday morning we went to a farmer's market in town by Colgate College. It was really fun to walk around and see all the different booths and things for sale. We saw some Amish people. That was a first. It was interesting to me to notice the differences between a market in New York and a market in Utah. In Utah there would have been gaggles of children and strollers and a lot of very well dressed mom's toting a couple children each to the boutiques with baby onesies and hair bows and baby bracelets. In New York, there were only a handful of children, no baby bracelets or onesie shops, and a lot more different people. It was refreshing to be somewhere different. I think sometimes its just good to get outside of Utah and just experience a different group of people and town.

We played with Parker at a park for a little bit and then headed back to Grandma's and then hit the road to Aunt Phyllis's house. It was an hour and a half ride through little towns with pretty houses. We ended up counting how many cemeteries we passed. We passed 13 of them! Woah! Lots of dead people.

Amy's party was nice. She's gorgeous. We had fun talking and seeing family that we hadn't seen for 12 years. We ate some yummy food and had fun chasing Kent all over the yard and trying to convince him to stay in the back yard and not run out into the street. It was a hot day, so we got tired after the party. We left and headed back to Grandma's house.

Before going home we ate dinner at a restaurant called VJ's and got a couple pizzas and ate way too much. It was so good. We ended up eating it for the next few days too. 

Sunday morning we woke up and got ready to make the trip back to Phyllis's house to attend Katy's bridal shower. We got ready and decided to leave early because the house was getting hot. We Utahans are not used to any kind of humidity. We made it to the party and got to talk with our family again. I really enjoyed being with them. I wish we lived closer and I hope I can visit more often. The party was hot again, but we at good food again, played some fun games and watched Katy open her presents. Lauren chased Kent for the first half of the party and I chased him for the last half. That kid is so cute and so active. All over the place. 

We drove home after taking a bunch of pictures together and headed up to Donna and David's house for a bon fire. The fire was HUGE and it was so hot to sit anywhere near it. We ended up having to back up our chairs quite a bit away, but it was very nice sitting there watching the fire roar against the backdrop of the beautiful countryside. 

We went to sleep that night with fans on us and slept pretty well.

On Monday we packed up our stuff and got ready to go to the airport for our 12:30 flight. We stopped for some bagels and to see a few shops and then made it to the airport and checked our bags and waited for our flight. 

Our flight was delayed with no definite idea of when it would actually leave. The east coast was having thunderstorms all over and it was really frustrating waiting with a screaming child. Luckily he found some kids to entertain him and chase him all over, so that saved us. Finally, after 6 hours of waiting, we figured out that we could no longer make our connecting flight and would end up being stuck in Washington DC if we went out that night. So I opted to have us stay an extra day and leave on Tuesday instead. So we called Mom and she picked us up. We ate some dinner and returned to Grandma's house for the night.

Tuesday morning we tried again. We made it to the airport and found out our flight was delayed again, but it ended up only leaving a half hour late. We finally got into the plane and left New York, heading to Chicago. When we walked into the Chicago airport there were SO many seas of people. It was crazy. We ate at the Chili's restaurant at the airport and had a big lunch. Then We found a little kiddie play place that totally saved us, and Kent played for two hours. Our flight to SLC was changed quite a few times. At first just the terminal, then it kept getting pushed back an hour and another hour until it was 3 hours delayed and we had again spent 5 to 6 hours waiting around for this flight. When we got on that last play I could have clicked my heals, I was so excited to be done with traveling. Three hours later we were in SLC and were able to find our luggage from the day previously and head home!

It was a long trip back home, but the trip was great and we had such a good weekend. Little buddy did so well on the plane. And Lauren did well too. (Being pregnant and having a kid sit on her lap was  interesting at times.) 

I'm glad we're back. I'm glad Kent isn't going to scratch me with his razor toe nails anymore. But it was fun and I'm so glad to have seen everyone!

I have lots more pictures, but it's a pain putting them up. But rest assured, Aunt Beth, you're making the book this year! ;)

The Sacred Grove

On Friday, June 21st, I visited the Sacred Grove with my mom, my sister, and my nephew.

The first time I visited the Sacred Grove was when I was 14 years old. The same age that Joseph Smith was when he went into the grove to pray and saw God the Father and Jesus Christ. 

I've thought back on my experience quite a bit through the last 12 years. I had always wished that it had meant more to me. I remember walking around the trees and thinking, "Wow, God was here once." It was beautiful and so peaceful, and you can't help but whisper when you're walking around because you can just feel the sacredness of the spot. I didn't have any big spiritual experience, I didn't cry, I didn't sit and ponder life. It was a really good experience, don't get me wrong, but part of me always thought that I should have had a bigger spiritual experience. 

As I grew up and learned, my testimony of this church has formed and it's changed my life. So many life experiences have taught me that God loves everyone of us, Jesus Christ did live and died for us and lives again, the true church was restored on this earth through his prophet, Joseph Smith, and we continue to have prophets and apostles on this earth to lead us just as in Bible times. I know these things because of life and experiences I've had.

When I was a missionary in Korea I spent every day teaching these truths to people in a foreign language, trying so hard to convey my love for the gospel to God's children. I always thought that if I could revisit the Sacred Grove, this time I would feel everything I wanted to feel that first time and it would be the most amazing experience of my life.

So, on Friday, June 21st, as we pulled up to the Sacred Grove and walked into the trees, I thought for sure a spiritual awakening would fall on me like a ton of bricks and I would be so overcome with everything that maybe I'd cry or something. 

But as I walked through I felt the same feelings I felt when I was younger. "Wow, God was here once." The beauty and peace that was there was overwhelming. We whispered the entire time we were walking through. It was so quiet that we could hear the birds singing and the breeze blowing the leaves on the trees. There were pretty butterflies. It was like the whole grove knew that it was a sacred spot and even the trees were grateful that they were able to grow on that soil. 

We took pictures of "pillars of light." I even recited the "First Vision" in Korean for my family. I always wanted to do that since I memorized that in the MTC. We smiled as we watched youth groups studying their scriptures and writing in their journals. It was perfectly peaceful.

I didn't have that huge spiritual downpour of enlightenment that I thought would come. But it was just like the first time I read the Book of Mormon. When I got down on my knees and asked God if the book was true, before I could even listen for an answer I felt my answer. I felt, "You KNOW it's true Mindy. Why do you even need to ask?" 

So as I walked into the Grove and started to ask God for the affirmation of the truth of the First Vision, instead of the emotional spiritual experience I was looking for, I just felt it. I felt, "You KNOW it's true Mindy. You don't need anything more."

I didn't have a huge spiritual experience, but as I've learned throughout life, I didn't need a huge experience to solidify what I already knew to be true. Because I already know it! I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, that he helped bring the restored church to the earth. I've known this since before I was 14 and before I was a missionary and before I walked in the sacred grove a few days ago. I knew this all to be true. 

I think more than anything I just felt so grateful to know all of this. To really KNOW all of this and not just believe it or think it might be true. But to know and to live life with this knowledge and comfort of God's plan for me and for everyone. 

I'm so glad we were able to visit the Sacred Grove. If anything, it just helped me remember what I know because of Joseph Smith's first vision and how incredible it is that because of that one event, I am able to be with my family for eternity and once again live with God again.

Summer Adventures Part One

I haven't really blogged lately.

I've been having a great summer so far. In fact, the other day I realized that it was almost July and I kind of got a little bit of anxiety realizing that the summer is going really fast and that it will be over before I know it! Luckily I've been doing some fun things!

Annalie and I went to the redwood forest. Luckily I wrote about that trip. I would have forgotten a lot about that. I finally am able to add pictures so here's a few.

I went camping with Lynsie, Annalie, Brittni, and her dogs in Southern Utah the last weekend of April. We went to Sand Hallow Reservoir and had a blast. We tried out my huge new tent, spent some quality time in the sun, and played in the water. I was still in the throws of my stress fracture, and my right leg started swelling quite a bit during the trip. That was unfortunate. But we had fun. We had camp fires, we played some games, and had a good time being friends again. We went in my baby little car and somehow we fit everything in the car. It was quite the Tetris game, but we did it. I am so glad Lynsie and Brittni came. I love them so so much.

I went fishing with my brother and brother in law on memorial day. We woke up at 5:30 and were out on the water from 6 until 2 or so. We fished at a park in Highland, at Vivian park at the handicapped park, and then at Deer Creek. They caught two fish at Vivian park and nothing else. But I had fun reading and floating on my boat for a while. I sure love being in the sun.

I had 10 days off at the end of May. I was originally planning on attending a wedding that week, but it was postponed, so I had a bunch of time off. I ended up going to Bryce Canyon National Park with my mom and my dad. We camped for two nights, spent time by the fire, in the little lake on my boat, and trying to warm up in our tent because it got pretty cold. My dad ran in a race. It was a fun weekend. The campsite we were at was perfect. Hardly any people, forest, by a lake, and peaceful. I would definitely go back again.

My latest adventure was to New York to visit my mom's side of the family. I'll write about that one in more detail. I was excited to go on an airplane somewhere. I went with my sister and her little son to meet up with my mom. Super fun times.

I can't believe that June is over in a few days. I still have a few things left on my summer to do list and I am really excited about doing them. I just hope summer lasts long enough to do them all!

Mother's Day

A few days ago I went grocery shopping with my sister and her little boy. About three minutes in he started to fuss and whine about being in the cart so we let him walk along side. He was so happy for a while, laughing when he would run in circles, touching the cold freezers, running up ahead and then getting scared when he realized he had wandered from mom. 

Eventually he started screaming for no apparent reason. The look of embarrassment on my sister's face when she realized that she was "that mom" with that screaming kid in the store was priceless. I just smiled, knowing in a few months she will have yet another screaming child.

I hope she realizes what an amazing mom she is. She didn't yell, didn't hit, and didn't lose control. A few lookers on gave us strange looks. But I also hope she recognized the look of jealousy she got from the cashier. The cashier kept saying things like, "These are the best days." And although I'm sure Lauren took it sarcastically, I really think that the lady meant it. She looked longingly at Lauren's stage of life and smiled.

 Yes, it's exhausting, the kid can get annoying, and it seems ridiculous that a trip to the store turns into a full on world war 3, but I admire my sister. She's a fantastic mom. 

The other day I went to the park with my sister in law and her two adorable handfuls. First off, I admire the skill it takes to get two kids to the park almost everyday to play. Her little boy is full of life and energy and climbs on everything in the jungle gym. Her tiny little girl walks all over the place. It's nearly running for how fast she goes. It's hard to keep up!

There came a point when little buddy started flinging bark chips and sister started copying him. Natalie took him aside for a time out to teach him that he couldn't do those things. He wailed and hollered and then was given permission to play again and he went right back to flinging those bark chips. Over and over again Natalie patiently took him aside and through his crying explained why he couldn't do it. 

My favorite part was when he got up, checked to see if mom was looking, and then started flinging the chips again. His mom said, "Camden!" His eyes got huge and he started sprinting up the play place. 

I laughed. He's so cute. I can't begin to tell you how patient of a mother I think she is. I'm sure sometimes she wonders if the time out thing is worth it or if explaining things to him will really make a difference, but she never gives up trying. She's amazing.

I'm always amazed at my mother. There is not a more selfless person on the planet in my eyes. She'd give up anything and everything for all of us. 

I thought this week about how my mother has a personal relationship with each of her children. She has 6 of us, and I'm sure we all secretly feel like we're her favorite. (Even though we joke that Jon is the golden child.)

Last week, my mom made it a point to go to dinner with Kevin and Davy, all the way in Orem. She spends countless hours with me and my sister, jumps at the chance to babysit her grand kids, and tries her hardest to help my younger brothers get a life. 

She's willing to revolve her life around Connor's schedule, shares cars, loses sleep over us, and prays for us. 

She's the best mom in the world, and I'm so lucky she's mine.

I'm so grateful for the examples of motherhood I have in my life. I hope that if I ever have children, I can be a little bit as amazing as these three are.

Happy Mother's Day!

adventure

Annalie and I, by some luck, were able to fix our schedules to get four days off in a row at the same time. We decided we needed to get the heck out of Utah and hit the road. So we went to the redwood forest!

We researched it all for a while and planned to go halfway every day. It sounded better on paper than in real life. I'm not sure we thought about just how much driving we would have to do. But we did it anyway.

We took my car pretty little car and I drove the entire time. I love my car and like driving it. Plus, Annalie is a scary driver. 

We left our house around ten or so and drove on through the boring nothingness that is Nevada. Seriously boring. Actually, the moment we hit the Oregon state line, the outdoors were a lot more beautiful and nice to look at. 

Oregon was so pretty and nice. The only two things I didn't like were the slow speed limits (max was never above 55) and how you can't pump your own gas. Weirded me out. Other than that, I think I want to live there some day. The first two interactions we had with strangers from Lakeview, Oregon were very pleasant. A lady was welcoming to us at her nursing home turned hotel (true story) and a couple people at the local Safeway let us use their Safeway card to get hefty discounts. We walked around the town for a while and decided to buy groceries for dinner so we could eat our veggies. We brought it to the hotel and microwaved it. It was yummy.

We woke up at 5:30 and got ready, ate the continental breakfast, and tried to be on the road as close to 6 as possible. Another long day of driving was in store for us. But the drive was gorgeous and we loved it. We made it to the forest around 2 or so. I was so sick of driving and needed to get out of the car, so we drove down a little road, got out, and did an easy 3 mile hike. 

Now, for those that haven't heard, about four weeks ago or so I started getting severe pain in my right leg after running. It kept getting worse and I recently found out that it's a stress fracture. So, I did this hike on a broken leg. It was too pretty to care. 

We got a little turned around when we came out of the trail not back at the parking lot we were parked at. We got turned around and I was totally going to ask someone which way was north but then we remembered that I had a compass on my phone! Wahoo! So I used that nifty gadget and we walked back to the car, single file line, along the road. 

We went for another little walk up a hill to look at the beach trail. So pretty. 

We drove through a tree! It's some privately owned place. We paid $5 to go through and take pics. The attendant at the pay station was funny. She was an old lady who obviously loved to talk and didn't get a lot of people to talk to. She told us a story of how a whale got caught in the river last year and they never did get her out. I love talking to old people. Call it a gift. 

We deciding to really find the ocean and walked along the shore. We got brave enough to dip our feet in. We kept inching closer to the water until a large wave creeped up on us and got us all wet. It was freezing cold!! But so peaceful and lovely. I love the waves and the smell and the subtle humidity in the air. We could have stayed forever were it not for the cold. 

We checked into a hotel and then I got cranky and hungry so I made Annalie go to dinner with me. We went to a nicer place and ordered almond crusted halibut with raspberry sauce. It was incredible! So amazing. We left satisfied and went to sleep that night after watching 19 kids and counting on tv.

We woke up the next morning and talked about the day. We felt like we did everything we could in the redwood forest while I had a broken leg. We wanted to go to crater lake but then discovered it was snow covered and would require chains and 4 wheel drive. So we googled a bunch of stuff and decided to go to Lava Beds National Memorial. It had a bunch of caves and was only a half hour out of the way of going home.

So I drove. And drove. And drove. We got there about 3:30 and borrowed flashlights from the ranger stations and went into two caves. The first was lit and easy. The second, called Valentine Cave, was also "easy" but had no light and got pretty low in some places. My flashlight ran out of batteries so I used my phone's flash for light. It worked out pretty great. 

I ended up really hurting my leg. The unevenness of the ground and the darkness and almost crawling we had to do was really not good for my leg. We turned back and made it out with a minute to spare before we had to turn our flashlights back in. I popped some ibuprofen.

There were so many other caves to go into but without light it would be impossible so we drove back to Lakeview for the night. 

We ate at a Mexican Place with the spiciest salsa I've ever had. It was good. I iced my leg and went to sleep.

In the morning we ate and packed and headed on the road again, this time to home. The drive was long and boring as we headed into Nevada yet again. We ended up playing cards for a while. (I'm a great knee driver.) We stopped in Wendover for lunch/dinner and made it home by 6. I was exhausted and worked the next two days. 

It was a fun trip. We spent most of it in Oregon, most of it in the car, and but mostly had fun. 

We hardly fought, which is good, and talked about everything. We love my Sirius radio. Most heard song was "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and also "Carry On" by Fun.. 

I'm glad we went even though it was too fast and was way too much driving. It was great to just leave for a while, not think about work or anything, eat good food, and get out of utah. I hope to go on a bunch of trips this summer. I've got a lot of plans!


p.s. I've been trying to add photos to this post for days but it's not working.... maybe later!

to those who care

It's now been a whole month since I've started working at my new job. I get asked all the time how my job is going, so I thought I'd just write down a little update.

All in all, I'm LOVING my new job.

The hospital is so nice. It's a brand new facility. I don't have to worry about the water heater going out every morning, there is temperature controls for each room, the call lights work, we have these cool little Vocera phone things we carry on us so everyone can get ahold of us, and all the supplies are pretty well stocked. It's a great building. (Not to say that my old place was terrible. I loved Heritage, but I can't deny that it was an old building.)

My co-workers are all really nice so far. It's different working with a lot of nurses on the floor with me. At my previous job I was the only nurse on my floor. I got really close with my CNA's. But this job is great because I always have an army of nurses to ask for advice or help. The CNA's are good too, though I think my Heritage aides could work circles around the hospital aides. I miss them. The doctors I work with are really nice too. I love having the Hospitalist on the floor all day. I love having a pharmacist on the floor all day. It's a nice change to have all these people there all the time to ask questions.

The work is great, just like always. Most of the time I love being a nurse. It's a great job that really is very selfless in nature. I'm glad I picked a career that is so service oriented. I'm so happy to be where I am now. I am even more grateful for starting my career at Heritage. The knowledge I have from everything I did there has helped me so much.

I finished my training last week and I've now been on my own for 4 shifts. I really like being let loose on my own. It's great to train with my awesome coworkers and see how they do everything, but really there is nothing better than being able to do your own things on your own time and organize it your own way. It's been great.

Oh, and did I mention the best and worst parts? The best part: the shift starts at 7:00am instead of 6:00, and I don't have to wake up in the 4 o'clock hour anymore. I can sleep in until 5:45, take a shower, and drive to work with ample time to spare. The worst part: I get out of work at 7:30pm and sometimes later. So It's kind of a good and bad thing. I think the good outweighs the bad though. I'm loving sleeping later.

And that's that.

run!

Running Update:

Well, I still love running. Its great.

I finished the winter running series that I started in January. It was hard but it really motivated me. I have now completed a 5K, a 10K, and a 15K race! Pretty neat.

The 10K was my favorite by far. The weather was cold, slightly windy, and foggy. I'm not really sure why, but I was super motivated that day. I ended up running the entire thing without stopping! Yeah, I'm sure some people could walk faster than I ran parts of it, but I never stopped jogging along. It was great and it really made me love running more.

The 15K was miserable. We started the race with clear weather, and then 3 minutes into running, the wind and snow started. It was freezing cold, dark, foggy, and snowy. It snowed about 3 inches or so on the road while we were running. I was so cold for parts of it. I also stopped running the second half. I walked very fast, but I couldn't run. It was so hard and terrible. Every time I started to run again, the snow would blast me in the eyes and I would be blinded by the snow and by my pure hate for Utah. It really was miserable. I think that I will never want to run in the snow again. 

But I got my medal! It was great. It was worth it. If anything, this race series was worth it just so I could finish the races and figure out that I can finish them, even if I don't run really fast. 

What's planned for the future of Mindy's running? I'm hoping to find a half marathon pretty soon to do. I'll have to really train harder. It's been hard to keep up the running during the week. I want to find a marathon to do this summer. And then the 50 in October is still calling my name. Wish me luck and super human abilities.

I sure love running.