hello?

I haven't posted since January 1st.

I probably should have kept up at this because it's going to be hard to do these last 9-10 months justice.

January sucked. What with work being crazy and them forcing me to work overtime. It was really depressing. And I got really burned out for the next couple months. I'm not looking forward to that time of year again. (SOON! UGH!)

In February I went to Disney World! I fell in love with the place and had the most fun I've ever had. We went to the beach, to Universal Studios, to Downtown Disney, to every park in Disney World. SO FUN. I want to go back every day.

March passed by without much out of the ordinary. I started to like work a little bit better again. And I started to be better friends with people at work too. I have some amazing co-workers.

April brought with it some personal changes. I started reading the Book of Mormon again. I mention this because it really impacted my life a lot more than I thought it would. I owe every good thing that's happened this year to my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Reading the Book of Mormon  again helped me draw closer to them and helped me change my life.

In May I welcomed these sun with open arms. I LOVE summer. I LIVE for the summer. My roommate and I also decided, rather quickly, to move from West Jordan to Cottonwood Heights. It was the best decision ever. We moved in with Chelsey and Lynsie to a house and I've loved every minute.

Ryan and Courtney got married in June! It was a really fun and awesome day. I'm happy Courtney is a part of our family. I couldn't ask for a better sister-in-law. So far the two that I have are AMAZING. So lucky. My brothers are crazy lucky too. I also went blonde in June. I was blonde for all of summer. That was fun. I took at trip to Manti with my ward and roommates. I started and ended as a temple worker at the Oquirrh Mountain temple. Then was set apart to start as a temple worker for the Salt Lake temple in August.

July was crazy busy. I went camping with my family one night, got sick for a week, had a family reunion, flew to New York with my mom and Annalie for 8 days, came back, worked a little, and then Cyann and Justin came in from New Mexico to visit us! LOTS of jammed packed days with lots of fun. New York was incredible. I just love my family out there. Hi-lights include Niagara falls, Hill Cummorah Pageant and the Sacred Grove, the finger lakes, hiking in the Adirondacks with Aunts and Uncle and cousins, and our day in Philadelphia. So much fun!

August started out busy as well. Working full time in the summer is a joke. It's SO hard to want to go to work when the sun is out and the world is beautiful! I went to Yellowstone with my ward. It was a blast. A lot of driving. But a blast. I started working at the temple! It's so incredible to spend 6 hours a week at the temple. I'm learning so much, even if it is SO difficult to wake up at 4am those days.

And now, September. It's the end of the month. Everyone went back to life and school and jobs. So life sort of slowed down a bit. I have a capstone student at work, so I get to have a student almost every shift from now until the end of October. It's teaching me patience, that's for sure. But she's great. Smarter than I was in school. I've been hiking a few times here and there. Don't see my family as much as the summer, but that's life.

So sorry it's been so long. These are the goings on. I really want to blog soon and write about my thoughts about my goings on. Like I sort of mentioned, my life has really changed this year and I am just in awe of how great these changes are and how they came to be.

But I guess stay tuned for those thoughts.

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!

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!

Grand Canyon

Our trip to NYC was suddenly cancelled. I started the week off thinking about flying to NYC, going to the natural history museum, and central park. I did laundry, got everything ready, (all without a car, mind you), and even packed. (I had to pack 2 days before because of work.) 

Then, I woke up on Wednesday morning for work and found out that our flight was canceled. I mean, I guess in hindsight, it was good that we couldn't go because of all the power outages and subways being down. But it would have been better if the hurricane didn't happen at all. For more than just me. 

So, I was at work that day, texting Annalie to cancel our hotel and get our refund for our plane tickets. And I was sad. 

The next day at work, it dawned on me that I still had 5 days off and we could go somewhere. Annalie and I texted back and forth, I asked almost every one of my co-workers where I should go for the weekend, and by the end of my shift we figured out that we would go to the Grand Canyon, stopping in Cedar City on the way, making a detour to Snowflake to see Cyann, and then take an airplane tour of the canyon. It was set.

My mom drove me back to my house (again, no car) and I unpacked my hurricane weather clothes and re packed my Arizona clothes.

I enjoyed my food so much I
took a picture of the finished bowl.

We started off for Arizona on Friday morning. We drove down to Cedar and picked up a few things at Walmart that I had forgotten. We ate some yummy Thai food at Sweet Basil, and tried to see Brittni, but she was locked in the meeting from hell. So we ventured on our way.

Me: Feeling VERY sick. 

I started feeling "car sick" while we were in the car in Cedar. It should have dawned on me that it wasn't car sickness because we weren't even driving when I first felt it. We drove for a few hours, deciding to stop in Page, AZ. We got our hotel room, and I ended up trying to make myself puke for a while. I felt terrible. So sick.

Annalie decided to get me some Pepto while I went into the bathroom and ended up puking a few times. I felt a billion times better after that. But then waves of nausea hit again, and within another hour I puked a couple more times. I fell asleep listening to Annalie watch weird shows on TV. Then woke up after she had fallen asleep and puked again. After that, I was able to sleep. My stomach wasn't the best, but I knew I wouldn't puke again.

I woke up that morning, stopped at a store so I could buy a bunch of drugs and some Sprite, and we headed towards Snowflake.

Drugs to the rescue!

We got there and had to wait for a while for Cyann and Justin to come out of the temple. We got to sit around the temple for a while. Annalie forgot her recommend and I felt like crap, so we sat outside and talked about stuff for a while.

When Cyann and Justin came out, we were so excited to see them! It made all of the puking, cancelled trips, and horrible October worth it. I missed them so much! I'm so glad we can still be super best friends even though we never see each other and we hardly talk. We went over to their grandparent's house where Lily and Chloe were waiting. Lily was SO excited to see us! She kept saying, "I miss you so much!" and "This was a BIG surprise!" I just love them all so much. Chloe is so big and smiley. I can't believe it. Cy and Justin are just the same awesome people as they always are. They try to talk us into moving to Gallup and we try to talk them into moving to SLC.

We finally had to leave them. It was pitch black outside and we had to drive to the Grand Canyon.

We made it to the Grand Canyon around 10 pm. We got a hotel room. It was nice! And we went to sleep.

Sunday morning we got up for our plane ride. We got to the airport, and after not knowing where to go for a while, we figured it out. The airport had so many Koreans there visiting! I loved being able to eavesdrop. However, I would appreciate it in the future if they would talk about more exciting things. Ha.

Our plane was really small. It sat 10 people (including the pilot). We flew over the Canyon for about 45 minutes. The view was spectacular and so amazing. I loved it. We got to listen to a narration and some weird sound track during the ride. Afterwards I came to find out that Annalie and I had both been thinking about how we would have to save everyone if our plane crashed. We came up with a whole much of elaborate scenarios in our head where we would be heroes and use our lifesaving skills. Haha. We're nerds.

We headed to the canyon rim after that. We got out and looked over the edges. Annalie got scared being so close to the end. I love to imagine what it would be like to fall over the edges. Ha. We then walked along the rim trail. It was a nice day. Cool breeze, but warm sun. We ended up walking a little over 5 miles. We stopped at a few overlooks and took  few pictures.

We got hungry, found a place to eat, and then returned saw the IMAX movie about the grand canyon. That was pretty good. Really neat to see the bottom of the canyon. I REALLY want to go river rafting now. 

Then, we were losers, and spent the rest of the night in our hotel room sleeping. It was amazing. Ha.

Monday morning we packed up, ate, and started the drive home. We stopped at the Canyon again to see a few views, stopped in Page to use the bathrooms at the Glen Canyon dam visitor's center, and then made it to Cedar City to finally see Brittni. 

We found her and walked around down town Cedar talking about life. I miss that girl so much.

We drove up north, stopped at my parent's, and then made it home.

It was a good trip. Minus the throwing up and all of the driving we had to do. It was nice to have time off and just leave the state. And I was able to see my best friends. 

All in all, it was really good. 

Oh, and Annalie has some WEIRD music on her iPod.