What I Believe

Since this blog is an account of exciting and important things in my life, it would be devastatingly incomplete without a description of my beliefs. My life CENTERS around them!

I believe there is a God who is the Father of my spirit. Jesus Christ is His Son. They created this amazing earth and everything on and in it, including ME and YOU! I don't understand how they came to exist or where exactly they are, or how they hear my prayers, but I know they are there. When my faith wavers, I just rely on my HOPE. What a sad thought it would be to think that we are alone in this world with no one to look over us or help us or direct us.

I love to read the New Testament and learn about Jesus' ministry, miracles, atonement, and crucifixion. I believe those miracles really happened! Jesus Christ has the power to heal both body and spirit!

I also know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the WHOLE world. Not only did He minister to His own people, but He also appeared after His resurrection to the inhabitants of ancient America. He said, in John 10:16, "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd." The record of the people in America and the account of Christ's appearance there is contained in the Book of Mormon, which is ANOTHER TESTAMENT of Jesus Christ. It is not a substitution for the Bible, but a supplement. It is another testament of the same majestic Lord.


I believe that God has not left us without a prophet on the earth. There is a prophet who receives revelation from God for the WHOLE world! He does this through the power and authority of the priesthood - the same priesthood held by Jesus and His disciples. The priesthood was lost through apostasy, but it has been restored! Peter, James, and John (Christ's disciples) restored the priesthood to the earth in 1829 to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. They were given the authority to restore the church of Jesus Christ as it was during His ministry. That authority has been passed on and is now held by Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormon church) and prophet of the world. To learn more about Joseph Smith and how he came to be a prophet, please see here.

I believe we are all God's children and should love each other without judgment, hate, prejudice, ignorance, or pride. We are truly all brothers and sisters. "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). "For I was an hungered, and ye have me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a stranger and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inanasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren; ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40).

I believe in living a pure life, clean from drugs, alcohol, and sexual immorality. I believe in taking care of and honoring my body, since it is a gift from God. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of god is holy, which temple ye are" (I Corinthians 3:16-17).

God loves us! He wants us to be happy. He will bless you with the knowledge of the truth if you ask. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him" (James 1:5).

My first real vacation since Christmas!

I got to go home to Texas for a week at the beginning of July and had a great time. Basically, I spent the week doing nothing but playing. I spent most of my time doing something outside or playing Karaoke Revolution or Rock Band. While at home, I did a lot of swimming, playing with the dog, and hanging out with my 13-year-old sister and her friend. One day, we drove a couple hours to a historic town called Jefferson in east Texas. It reminded me of Stars Hollow! So this picture is for all you Gilmore Girls fans. A barbershop group was singing at the gazebo in the middle of town. I was looking everywhere for Kirk.

We also went on a boat ride on the Big Cypress Bayou. By the way, a bayou is just a very slow-moving river. It was really pretty and provided some much needed shade from the incredibly hot day.


We also went to our ranch and went swimming and fishing. And I got to drive the tractor to mow the front yard! I haven't got most of the pictures yet from my mom, so here is a picture of the lone bull, Lucky. He has a tuft of curly blonde hair which my mom thinks is "cute" and I think is oddly fake-looking.


To top it off, we met up with my sister and her kids and my aunt and cousin and went to a water park the last day I was in town. It was awesome, but my nephew wore me out! (And my waterproof digital camera somehow got water inside of it and no longer works! Too bad it happened THREE days after my warranty expired!) But besides that, it was great! This is Bubba, who is 7 years old and has more energy that I could ever hope for.


And this is my youngest nephew, Zach. He doesn't really remember me and cried or ran every time I came near him. Apparently, I couldn't even get him to look at me for a picture! But he is a cutie!


And this is my cousin, Laura, and sister, Leighana. (My camera was working fine, here!)


Finally, I have to point out that EVERYTHING IS BIGGER IN TEXAS. This is a not pride; it's just a fact. Check out the gigantic mosquito bite I got! And this was in the morning! Mosquitoes aren't supposed to come out till night! Use the dime for size reference.


And it KEPT GROWING! That thing was almost the size of my kneecap!

Zion!

It's been a while since I've posted. I guess I've been waiting for something post-worthy to happen. Well, I guess the day is here. I had a great weekend in Zion National Park with 3 friends. My mom tells me we've been there before, but I remember nothing about it (I was in high school at the time - you'd think I would have some memory of it, but no), so this was essentially my first time exploring the park. Here's the rundown:
Day 1 - We found a GEM of a campsite! In case you're ever looking for a free place to camp, when you're driving in toward the main entrance of the park (near Springdale), there's a great place on the right side of the road just before mile marker 24. It is right by the river and has great shade trees (PERFECT for slacklining!). Sadly, we all thought the other person would bring their slackline and we ended up without one at all.
Day 2 - One of the main reasons we wanted to go to Zion was to hike the Narrows. So Saturday morning, we headed into the park and hopped on the shuttle bus. Then, we realized we should probably get a map and figure out where the heck we were going. So we went into the visitor's center and I asked the ranger what shuttle stop we should get off at for the Narrows. I think he must have misunderstood and thought my question was, "can you please tell me how dangerous the Narrows hike is?" because his reply was, "The water temperature is currently 54 degrees. Hypothermia can occur in 1-2 hours and you will have to be in the waist-deep water for 4 hours." "Ok," I said, "let's just say I wanted to go LOOK at it. What shuttle stop would I get off at?" In the end, he reluctantly told me how to get there. So...we weren't going to be thwarted, but we decided it might be better to wait until the afternoon to do that hike. So we did Angel's Landing first. It was beautiful and had great views. It wasn't nearly as scary as I had imagined from the stories I've heard.




After Angel's Landing, we took a quick dip in the river and hopped back on the bus to go to the Narrows. WOW! It was so beautiful! The Narrows is the epitome of an oasis. I think I probably said the word "lush" about 10 times to describe the sights. There were cascading waterfalls, bright green trees, flowers growing out of cracks in the rock. I don't think my pictures nearly do it justice.




Oh, and the water was cold, but usually only ankle to knee deep and we were far from getting hypothermia.


There were squirrels and chipmunks everywhere! They weren't afraid of humans at all (they've obviously been fed way too much). After the Narrows, we were pretty exhausted. We headed back to camp, made dinner, and finished off the night playing a few rounds of this great dice game called Fill or Bust. What a great weekend!

Trip to LA

I had the opportunity to go to LA this weekend with my boss to hold a support group for parents living in the LA area that have kids in our residential treatment program. It was a quick trip - just about 36 hours total - but it was a good experience. This was my first time to travel for work (other than camping trips), so it was a big deal for me! There were about 25 parents there. I explained what recreation therapy is, what all we do in our program, and some new things we are starting. I also did a few experiential activities with the parents as an example of what we do with their kids. They seemed to really like it and I got great feedback from them that I hope to use to better our program.

We got to go to the beach for a couple of hours the first day. (Yes, it was a little awkward going to the beach with my boss - who is a married man twice my age - but hey, it was the beach.) It was beautiful, but a little chilly, so I didn't spend much time in the water. The hotel we stayed at was really nice, too. I was most excited about the IHome speakers in my room so I could hook up my ipod and listen to my music rather than the crappy radio. When I travel, I usually go for economy rather than luxury, so it was a treat to stay at such a nice place and bill it to the company!

Ignore the ugly foreground in this picture and just admire the sun reflecting off the water.

Today, I'm Remembering...

On this Memorial Day, I am thinking of the following people:
1. My great-grandmother, Big Gano. First, the name's explanation: This is my mom's grandmother. When my mom was little, she pronounced Grandma "Gangaw." The name stuck. Then, when my older sister was born, she heard my mom say "Gangaw," but was unable to pronounce it herself. So her version was "Gano." Then, to differentiate between my sister's (and my) Gano and our Great Gano, we called our great-grandmother "Big Gano" and our grandmother "Gano." Big Gano died when I was pretty young, so I don't remember much about her. My most vivid memory about Big Gano was a gift she gave me for Christmas or my birthday (I don't remember which, but they are basically the same). My cousin Amanda had this half stuffed animal, half plastic animal that was a monkey with suspenders. He was carrying a plastic banana in his hand. He was AWESOME! You could feed him his banana, carry him by his suspenders, stand him up on his white shoes... Also, he was pretty tall, so that was cool. Anyway, I really loved Amanda's monkey, so Big Gano bought me my own. I think that was the last gift I got from her before she died, so that made it even more special. Later, I had people tell me that the monkey is ugly and I guess from an objective viewpoint, it really is. But I LOVED it and I still treasure it as being one of my all-time favorite childhood toys.
2. My grandmother, Maw. This was "Gano." After our Big Gano died, we stopped calling her Gano and started calling her Maw. I think my cousin Amanda was the one that started calling her Maw. Towards the end of her life, she was always pretty sick and had to be on oxygen 24 hours a day. She lived with my aunt, who is a nurse and took care of her on a daily basis. I used to go stay with Maw on Saturdays when my aunt was at work so she didn't have to be alone. Mostly I just sat around and watched Nickelodeon and got food for Maw when she needed it and checked on her to make sure she was ok. Sometimes I would sit in her bedroom with her and talk. I wish I had done that more, though. I remember giving my mom a hug after Maw died to try to comfort her, but I felt so helpless. Strangely, I don't remember anything about her funeral, other than seeing her casket being lowered into the grave after the funeral and my great-uncle (her brother) watching so carefully to make sure the top of the casket was facing the right direction. He really loved her.
3. My grandpa, Papa Shirley. He died when I was really young, so I actually only have one memory of him. From what my parents tell me, Papa Shirley lived with my family for a short time when I was about 2 years old. In the house we lived in, there was one hallway of our house that we didn't use because it didn't exactly have a floor. I remember that you had to tiptoe between the pieces of wood that made up the foundation to get back there. Anyway, Papa Shirley lived in one of the bedrooms in that hallway and my one memory of him is seeing him walk down that hallway and into the kitchen. He was wearing a suit and had gray hair. My parents said he always wore a suit.
4. My great-grandmother, Mimma. I have several memories of Mimma. When I was younger, she lived in Sweetwater, Texas and we used to go to her house for Thanksgiving and Easter. (We probably went out there other times, too, but those are the only times I remember.) Later, she moved to a retirement home in Dallas and we were able to visit her more often. We would go out to eat with her at Luby's, which must have been her favorite restaurant, because I really don't think we ever went anywhere else, except for the cafeteria at her retirement home. Finally, in the last few weeks of her life, she had to go to a nursing home. When we went to see her there right before she died, I don't think she new who we were. I remember seeing her being pushed down the hallway in her wheelchair by a nurse and her foot was dragging on the floor. I heard her whimpering, but I don't know if that was because it was hurting her foot or she was in pain for other reasons. Either way, I remember being shocked that my Mimma, who was so sweet and caring and alert, had physically regressed so much that she couldn't even express her pain. There must have been hundreds of people at her funeral. Near the end of the services, my aunt Mary stood up and told a memory of Mimma. Many others followed and I listened from the back of the room to all of these people I didn't even know talk about how wonderful Mimma was. I felt so proud to be her great-granddaughter. To this day, I feel a special closeness to Mimma and I miss her and think about her often.
5. My cousin, Cameron. Cameron was 12 years younger than me and lived in Houston, but our families used to get together at least once or twice a year. My first thought about Cameron was that he was the odd one out in his family, with his bright blonde hair! He was a beautiful child and very sweet. But the most impressive thing about Cameron was his faith! At only 8 years old, Cameron understood God's plan for him better than most adults ever do. During his battle with cancer, his mom sent weekly emails to the entire family updating us on his treatment. I was constantly amazed by the funny, positive, and inspiring things Cameron said. His parents said that he often remarked, "I'm glad I had a brain tumor because I've gotten to meet so many new people." He passed away on September 29, 2005.

Happenings

1. I read an interesting book this week called "Pretty is What Changes." It is about a woman's struggle to decide whether or not to have a prophylactic (preventative) mastectomy when she finds out she has a gene that makes her highly likely to one day get breast cancer. It made me think and it made me cry, so it was a darn good book according to my criteria.
2. I went on my final Goblin Valley/San Rafael Trip for work. (Was that really this past week? It feels like forever ago.) It was crazy windy! I had to sprint away from the fire every time the wind picked up and still got a few ouchies. And the sand! Oh, the sand! It was everywhere! My teeth, nose, eyes, hair, sleeping bag, water...EVERYWHERE. The first day actually wasn't as bad. It was HOT (it was forecast to be 97...I don't know if it made it), but a storm started to come in late afternoon and it rained a bit, which cooled things down. It was still too hot to sleep in the tent, though. This made for a dilemma. Do we sleep in the hot and stuffy tent, our one haven from the sand, or do we sleep outside and brave the sandstorms? In the end, we chose outside. I had to keep turning my face every time the wind blew, but eventually I fell asleep and didn't notice it anymore. When I woke up, I could hardly open my eyes and my face felt like sandpaper. Oh, but lest you think this account is a complaint, please note that I was grateful for this experience. The whole trip, I thought "I'm so glad I have a place to live that provides protection from the elements!"
3. I watched the new Indiana Jones. I don't get understand all the complaints about the movie. I thought it was thoroughly entertaining. And I may have a crush on Shia LeBeouf.
4. This may seem boring, but I got a new work phone! Now, my phone/radio actually looks like a cell phone instead of a satellite phone. That thing was huge.
5. In light of my recent discovery of the joys of solitary recreation, I took a drive up American Fork Canyon today. I mostly drove around and looked at the mountain scenery. I also got out of the car and wandered around a meadow for a while, looking for some good photo ops. I found this amazing little creature which I later found out from this great website is a hummingbird moth. It's called that because it's actually a moth that is often mistaken for a hummingbird. I also photographed another moth (or maybe a butterfly) and I think I got a pretty good picture...which is good because I accidentally knelt on an ant bed to get that picture and I would have been bugged (pun intended) if it had been in vain. So the first two pictures are of the hummingbird moth, the third is an unidentified moth, and the fourth is me by the river that is next to the moth meadow. It was a beautiful spot!

This week's GREAT things & an eco-friendly intruder

I'm only doing 5 this week. Not that it wasn't a good week, but I would have to really stretch to find 10 interesting things.

1. I went camping at Goblin Valley State Park with work. We hiked Little Wild Horse (again) which is such a great canyon. It was nice weather, too.
2. I biked to Utah Lake (again). This time I went with Renae and Kyle and we took a picnic. Lots of fun.
3. I got an extra $200 on my paycheck this week. Granted, I worked lots of extra hours, but still...the extra money is nice.
4. I biked to work on Thursday. Coincidentally, last week was National Bike to Work Week.
5. I made homemade bread (again) and it turned out delicious (again)! I'm eating it right now.

To make up for the 5 things I didn't write, I have 1 very funny story. Last week, my parents' house was broken into when they weren't there (not the house they live in normally, but the house on their ranch in the country). Apparently, the intruder opened and ate several cans of food, slept in my dad's bed, and...well, that's pretty much it. BUT, here's where it gets interesting. Nothing was damaged or missing in the house (except that he forgot to replace the screen on the window through which he entered) and he even left an obvious pile of money untouched. But to top it off, he was considerate enough to dispose of the Gatorade bottle he drank in the RECYCLING bin. What a nice guy. Who says trespassers can't be eco-friendly?