Kindness

A couple weeks ago our Sunbeam lesson was on how we should be kind to others.

Today I was reminded that people are still kind in the world and it isn't something we only teach to children in hopes that it will someday come back.

People are still kind.

I have two examples that happened to me today while doing some shopping:

1. After checking out at Costco,

the lady that checked the receipt told us that the cereal we bought had a coupon

(we haven't been receiving our coupon book because we hadn't changed our address, now we have).

She then told us how to get 2 dollars back!

It's not a ton of money but it was very sweet of her and I appreciated her help!

2. While at JoAnn getting some fabric to make pillows the lady cutting my fabric said,

"Hey, I have a coupon for that."

Then she whipped out a JoAnn coupon mailer

(which I also hadn't been receiving do to our address change, but it is fixed now)

and gave me her coupon for muslin!

She saved me 40%, what a sweetheart!

I know there is evil in the world but I like to think that there is more good than evil, 

the evil just gets pressed into our minds,

so I was very grateful for these reminders today that people are still inherently good.

P.S. I really wanted to write JoAnns because that's how I always say it,
but apparently that isn't really the name of the store... 

tell me I'm not the only one who thought it was ;)

Three Years!

Three years ago at about this time (7:15 AM) I'm pretty sure I was completely ready to head to the temple.

Even though we didn't need to leave until like 9 or something like that... lol.

Three years ago today I married my best friend and the most wonderful man!

It was a beautiful day, a little windy, but other than that, 

it was the perfect day!

In honor of our anniversary,

we took a little trip.

We went to an island for three days!

We tried to go to these islands last year, but we weren't able to get a campsite reservation.

Here we are on the boat headed to the islands

Some sea lions

While on the island we did some snorkeling here:

We saw some beautiful fish, the biggest crabs I've ever seen, and other cool oceanic life!

We also did some hiking,

as you can see it was REALLY foggy most of the time we were there.

If you look closely in this picture you can see the cool sea caves!

My sweet husband took this picture..

And he took this picture of me

being afraid to go really close to the edge.

I don't like heights much...lol.

On the way up to where the next two pictures were taken you could see our little campsite.

That white dot is our tent.

Isn't that beautiful?!

I'm sure it would be even prettier without the fog,

but the fog looks cool too.

While we were up here we could hear so many sea lions! They were going crazy!

I think this is my favorite picture from our trip!

I wish I would have taken it without the flash... lol.

This is how he got into his sleeping bag all ready to sleep...

with the headlamp on... lol!

He cracks me up!

Our last hike that was about 7.5 miles.

We hiked to another part of the island to go snorkeling, 

but it turned out to be really rough, so we just enjoyed the view instead.

Ship wreck?

This picture is to show our make-shift spoon.

The first night that we were there it was really windy so we decided to go into our tent while our food was heating up.

After being in there for about a minute we heard something,

we looked out and couldn't see anything.

After the 5 minutes were up for our food we went out and our bag of matches was on the ground.

We figured the wind had knocked it off and that is what we heard.

Until we sat down to eat...

our bag of silverware was no where to be found!

Turns out the foxes on the island stole our bag of silverware!

Lol!

So for the rest of the trip we either: 

drank whatever we were eating,

used a wheat thin as a spoon,

or used this Pringle's lid as a spoon.

Hiking back from the beach

After that hike we got back on the boat and headed back to the mainland.

We had a great time being together!

It was a very restful trip.

We got a lot of sleep while we were on the island because when it was too cold to do anything we slept,

so the first day we had like a three hour nap,

the second day we had a one hour nap,

we didn't have to wake up to alarms in the morning so we slept in,

and every night we were asleep by like 8:30 or 9.. lol.

It was nice!

I'm so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man!

Through our three years we've learned a lot and are continually learning,

we've grown closer together through trials we've had and while they aren't always fun,

I'm so glad that I have him to help me through them!

I love that he always makes me laugh and can help me whenever I need him to!

He is so sweet to me,

I love him!

I'm one lucky girl!

Major Progress

We interrupt the room formerly known as the green room progress to bring you this breaking news!

Last week my dad and my brother came down to stay with me.

My sweet husband went out of town for business and I hate being alone.

So they came down to stay with me and help me with the house!

My dad told me to make a list of things they could do,

so I did.

Number 1:

Take out the carpet in the living room area and dining room area

Take out the tile in the entryway.

Those actually went fairly quickly.

I think we got the carpet out in about 30 minutes total.

The tile took a little longer.

Number 2:

Paint the walls and ceilings in those areas.

Number 3:

Put in the laminate flooring in those areas.

Number 4:

Put in baseboards and case around the windows and doors

Living Room Area

Dining Room Area

Kitchen

 Hallway 

We are so grateful for their help!

Now all we really need to do in those rooms in change out the outlets with new ones,

put in the crown molding,

caulk some places they weren't able to get because they ran out of caulk,

putty nail holes, and touch up paint.

Then I can decorate them! YAY!

Thanks again Dad and Little Big Bro!

Remember

In 2001, my family went on a big trip back East. We had a family reunion in Boston, it was so much fun! 

We drove across the country in our Suburban. 

We stayed at KOAs and other campsites in our camper trailer.

We saw SO many places,

we went to Boston, Niagara Falls, Toronto, Nauvoo, Philadelphia, Washington DC, to name a few.

We saw SO many sites

Church History sites, Civil War Sites, Revolutionary War Sites,

we also saw this:

In fact we got a really neat picture in front of the skyline.

Unfortunately my eyes were all red and puffy because I wanted to go to the Statue of Liberty really badly

and we missed the last ferry.

(I need to get that picture from my mom)

Little did I know that less than a month later people would be missing a LOT more than that.

Little did I know that less than a month later that site would look a LOT different.

That day started out pretty normal for me.

My cousin picked me up for school.

We got to school at about 6:50-6:55 like we did everyday.

I walked into my first class, Algebra II honors, and everyone was glued to the TV.

I didn't know what was going on, so I sat down and started watching.

I believe around this time the first tower had been hit, but the second one hadn't yet.

We spent the entire class period watching it.

I don't believe anyone really said anything.

We just watched.

Second period I had English,

and it was picture day so I'll always remember what I wore that day.

A blue plaid shirt with these awesome black pants that I wore pretty much everyday they were clean.

But after we got back from taking out pictures we watched the coverage.

Third period, Chemistry.

We watched the coverage.

I watched the coverage in every single class that day, including Seminary I believe,

except my history class..

which I thought was ironic since everyone kept saying that that day would be one we never forget.

My history teacher did talk to us about it instead,

which I was grateful for because we were all pretty confused I think.

I didn't understand why it would be a day that we never forgot.

In fact I thought my teachers were kind of crazy when they told us that.

But they were right.

They told me that I would never forget what I was doing when I found out,

they told me I would never forget what I was wearing,

they told me that I would never forget what I felt.

They were right.

I don't think I've ever felt more vulnerable in my life.

You see, my dad is a firefighter.

It hit close to home.

And I was afraid that it would really hit close to home.

I am so grateful for those firemen and policemen (and women) who risked their lives to help others.

Who do it every day.

I have a prayer in my heart for those people that lost loved ones in such a horrific way.

I hope they know that I care about them and that I remember.

P.S. President Monson wrote an article for the Washington Post about 9/11, you can read it here.