General Women's Meeting

 Last week I had the great opportunity to attend the first LDS General Women's Meeting at the Conference Center. It was AMAZING! If you haven't seen it yet or are wondering what it's about you can go here to learn more.

I really felt like I was supposed to attend this meeting. Our church got a hold of some tickets to the actual conference center. They got taken very quickly but I asked our bishop if he had anymore. He was able to get me two tickets but I spaced that I needed three or more. So after asking everyone I knew and praying about all week it the day before I got an extra ticket. While my mother in law got two extra tickets! I have never really had my prayers answered so quickly. It all just worked out great. I had planned to watch it with my cute in laws and we were able to have more fun by going to Salt Lake and being with everyone.

We went down early for some yummy lunch at Kneaders that was super crowded. The cool thing about this meeting is that it was for girl 8 and older, where as last year we had separate meetings for the young women (12-18) and the Relief Society( 18 and older). It was so cute to see all the cute little girls with their moms and their smiling faces. Definitely a change for the better.

Temple square was beautiful as always. The trees were all blossoming and they had spruced up some of the flower beds. It was so pretty to walk through. We saw three couples getting their pictures taken with some really pretty wedding dresses.

It was PACKED to the gills! ( If you have never been inside the Conference Center you should take a tour, it's pretty awesome.) But it felt so awesome to be with all these women young and old and these young girls. The spirit and feelings there were wonderful. After it was over I was saying how much more powerful it seems to be in the conference center. My mother in law said something like, "it helps her feel more unified that she's not in this alone." At times being a wife, mother, woman in this world it's hard and can feel very alone. But we have these amazing women all around us that we can go to for help. Women who may be struggling with the same thing or are on the other side of it and can say that it gets better. Either way I felt connected to something much more greater then myself. 

I was so glad to be able to share this experience with these lovely ladies. They are awesome too and I love them to pieces. After this meeting I felt so uplifted, so loved, and directed in how to best bless myself and my family. I came away from this meeting knowing that I am a child of God and that he loves me. I know that this church is true and I am grateful for it. 

It made me so excited for tomorrow to watch, listen and learn from General Conference! It's a group of meetings over the weekend in which the prophet of our church, his apostles and other leadership auxiliaries speak to us. It's awesome. If you'd like to watch, or read about it check it out. Conferencevideo 

For other gospel questions you can go to www.lds.org orwww.mormon.org. 

Music and the Spoken Word

Growing up my family has always tried to watch Music and the Spoken Word on Sundays. For a while my sister was in the orchestra and so we'd go down to Salt Lake and actually be there. That was a lot of fun. We've also tried to get tickets to the big Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert. We've been lucky to get them most years. This year I registered my house, my mom's and my mother-in-laws. My mom's house and my mother-in-law's house both got tickets for the Sunday special. It's a little different on Sunday because you have to be in your seat and quiet for Music and the Spoken Word at 9.30 and then they do a little mini concert for you after. So you essentially get the whole thing just a little more fragmented. 

 

It was quite amazing this year! It's always good but this one was spectacular.

The special guests were Alfie Boe a famous singer in England and Tom Brokaw as the narrator. They both did an amazing job! I usually tend to like one or the other but they did great. The best part was Tom Brokaw's narration of the Candy Bomber. If you can find it on youtube or watch the rebroadcast of it, it's totally worth it. I was just crying the whole time. Alfie Boe has played Jean VanJean from Les Miserable in London for years and did a beautiful version of " Bring him home." I usually am not the biggest fan of the Organ solo but this one was amazing. His hands and feet were all over the place and it was just fun! As always the Choir was fantastic and definitely brought the spirit. It was fun to share with Justin's mom and sister. We met up with my mom and sisters after and chatted for a bit. 

I hope that our luck continues and that we can continue to enjoy the fun and Christmas spirit that comes from the Concert. 

Sugar and Spice

And  all that's nice. That's what little girls are made of. We found out that we are having a girl! We are so excited. We would have been happy with either one and I am just glad that everything is still going well and on track. 

It was really fun to go to the ultrasound and see our little baby wiggling around. It is pretty obvious that it is a girl. We got a few good shots that made it very clear that it was a girl. The night before we were at the Messenger's and they did the needle test on me. Where you get a needle and some string then hold it over my hand to see what direction it goes in. Supposedly, if it goes sideways it's a boy, if it does circles it's a girl. It was going pretty sideways so they were all convinced it was a boy. Sorry guys...no boy this time. =). When we went to tell my family I had my dad guess what before and his intuition told him it was a girl. Then he did some muscle testing to see and he pretty much knew it was a girl before we told him. =)

So I am now 20 weeks, halfway there! I have been feeling really good, normal not to bad. I am having a harder time putting my shoes on and picking things up off the floor. I am outgrowing some of my clothes and had to get some maternity pants. I found some awesome ones at Ross for only $15! I was jazzed about that. One of my minor complaints is that I tend to have a stuffy nose often throughout the day. Not to bad just annoying when trying to sleep or eat. 

I am getting more and more of a belly and feeling the baby more often. That is one of my favorite parts. It feels kind of like a bubble going by but stronger. Sometimes it feels like a finger just brushed by me but on the inside. =) 

Now that we know we can do something fun with the baby's room. Now that all the blasted fairies are gone in the purple room. She will be a very loved little girl and have her Daddy wrapped around her finger. Justin just melts at the little girls in our ward and neighborhood . 

So now comes the fun part of getting everything ready for her! 

September Happenings

Some other fun September happenings. Jinni, Justin's sister turned 16! Her party got a little slighted with the baby announcement but she was ok with it. She's such a great girl and we love her lots. Since she's legal to date she's been on a date almost every weekend! 

This picture makes me laugh a lot. But she's still cute. =)

Jinni got a fancy tablet toy like Justin and I thought it was funny as we are having a family party and this is what these two are doing. It must be a genetic thing. At least their mouths aren't open like the Stoddards. =)

We all Volunteered to help Jourdan with a big school project that she was a part of. She had an internship at the American Heart Association and worked to put on this big event. There was quite a few different races going on, booths about stroke and heart health, health screening and other fun stuff. It was a pretty fun event. It was pretty awesome to see all these stroke survivors do the stroke walk and trying so hard. 

I told Justin I sure do love Jourdan a lot to get up at 5 in the morning to be there at 6 to start helping. =) It all worked out and we got some free girl scout cookies in the deal so it all worked out. =)

I was being very domestic and made jam with some berries that Justin's Grandma Messenger gave me while we were there. I was nervous about it but it all turned out and they all sealed. I was so glad. We go through jam super fast so it will at least get us through till the end of the year hopefully. I continued in being a domestic goddess and got some pears from my parents and canned them . They really won't last long. I think I made about 10 smaller jars and I think we've all ready had 3 or 4. =)  It was fun and got me excited and wanting to do more, I am excited for apple season to be coming up. 

We are doing really well. Not much to report on the baby issue. I have been feeling really good, going for a walk most mornings and able to get the things done that I need and want to to. I do tend to need a nap around 3-4 in the afternoon. We'll find out what we are having next week! Which all of us are excited about. 

Visitors!

For a weekend in September Justin's brother Jayson, and his wife Neha came to visit all of us in Utah. We had lots of fun visiting playing games and eating some delicious food. 

One day the fall leaves were looking really pretty so we went on a little jaunt up in the canyon. We were missing some of our group this day and I kept forgetting my camera when we were all together, darn it. But anyways here are most of the group. 

All the originals.

All the girls.

Almost everybody, we were missing Ben and Tony. 

We had lots of  fun being all together for most of the weekend. Jayson and Neha love to cook so they usually treat us to something that they make. This time they made us savory tarts and a very yummy lemon pie type thing. I can't remember what it's called. It was all very good. Justin said to me, "They like cooking and I like eating so lets go over." True story, =) 

As always time just flew by and they had to get back to San Francisco for jobs and school. We'll miss them lots and see them soon for Thanksgiving. Just so you guys know there are quite a few houses for sale or rent on our neighborhood *wink wink nudge nudge*. =) 

Summertime smatterings

Justin got a new toy! He's been hemming and hawing about getting it and then one day he finally did! He got a nexus 7 tablet. It's basically an Ipad but with Google instead of Apple. ( Justin is kind of anti apple. ) 

He's been having lots of fun with it, playing games mostly but also doing some writing. I have been having fun with the games as well. Sometimes...Justin will even let me take it to work. 

This little bro of mine had a birthday and turned 15. He's is getting so big and tall. I used to be able to win any argument by taking him down, I don't think I can do that any more. =) He's a fun and energetic brother. We love him.

This was by our mailbox one day. I love it for so many reasons. The spelling of lemonade, the attempts at how to spell house, and the fact that I have no idea where "lizzy house" is. Got to love all the kids in the neighbor hood. Our neighborhood has been great. We've had our lawn mowed twice by secret service neighbors. We are so grateful. 

My sisters and I worked on one of my mom's summer bucket list items. To summit Mt Timpanogas! It's different then the cave hike, it's on the other side of the giant mountain. It was a really pretty hike, but very long about 6.5 miles round trip. I was surprised by how green everything was in July especially since it was when all the fires were happening. 

Yeah....we were going to go to the top of that bad boy.I was kind of being a wimp and had to take lots of breaks. I was sorely out of shape but we still had fun.

When we got to the almost top we saw cute little mountain goats. Just hanging out. In all my hikes around Utah and other places I have never seen a Mountain goat in real life. So I thought it was pretty cool. By the time we got to this part we were all so tired and really didn't want to summit. But the views were still pretty.

We had fun and were super tired. We came home to an awesome dinner made by Justin. We've been having fun this summer and hope that you have too!

Brigham City Temple

On Saturday we went to the Brigham City Temple open house. It was such a beautiful temple! All temples are beautiful but this one had some very pretty aspects. It was modern with a pioneer edge to it. One thing that I loved about it was that they had lots of windows in the rooms letting in this beautiful natural light. They had gorgeous chandeliers around and really pretty stained glass windows. 

Along with the beauty of the temple the peace and joy that comes from going to the temple was there, even with the noise from the other guests and little kids. It was really special to share it with the Messenger family. We were supposed to meet my mom and sisters there but they got detained behind a car crash on their way. However, we saw them heading into the temple as we were on our way out so we stopped to say hi and tell them how pretty it is. 

One thing that I really liked was in the movie they show you before explaining temples and what we do in them, Elder Holland talked about his version of heaven. How in his version of heaven his family is all there with him and his wife.

It really hit me and made me grateful for the opportunity to be together with my family forever. My family that I grew up with, the family I gained with marriage, and the family that Justin and I will someday have. That is my definition of heaven as well. 

It's a lovely place and I can't wait to go through it again and really soak in the beauty of it all. I encourage you all to go! You don't need a ticket or anything just show up and they'll get you through. It might take longer but it's worth it. 

I love going to the temple and know that no matter what is going on in your life, you can find peace, joy, and courage to face your trials. 

Messenger Family Reunion

Earlier this month we traveled to Couer d'Ae Lene, Idaho for the Messenger family reunion. It was just the children of Grandma and Grandpa Messenger and their families and so on and so on. We had it at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Justin has been going on about how amazing their house is ever since we got married. Now after seeing it I agree it is pretty amazing.

So after the long night time drive to get there we got to their house at about 6:30. Surprising Grandpa as he was getting ready to shower with a towel and his shorts on. Could be my favorite memory of the whole trip. hehe. We slept for a while and then visited and waited for everyone else to come.

So Justin gave me the tour. It's a beautiful place, kind of in the middle of no where. Their land is about 30 minutes from the town so you felt like you were camping but with a lot more benefits. There is a pond you can swim in if you are brave, there was talk of leeches in it this year, a pond to catch frogs, a little swimming pool, a hot tub and lots of places to go exploring.

Grandma and Grandpa built their house with the help of the family. It really is an amazing work and I love the big logs and wood finishing of everything. It felt cozy, comfortable and like home from the minute I walked in. 

We had a nail painting party while trying to stay cool in the shade.

It's Messenger tradition to play capture the flag, everyone plays to the little kids up to grandma and grandpa.

We went on some fun hikes, to see the pretty views. The Messenger's LOVE to hike. Justin often tells me memories of backpacking trips with his dad, grandma and grandpa.

Another Messenger tradition is singing. They all get together and sing folk songs, family favorites, and any other song they'd like. It was so fun and special. Aunt Penny, and Debbie provided us with the music and kept it going.

There almost everybody is. I forgot to take a picture of one of the families. We had lots of hanging out with all the kiddos, dogs, and trying to stay out of the sun. It was a great time spent with family. I got to visit with some that I haven't met before and enjoyed learning about them. We also had delicious fresh raspberries and ice cream, and some other berry cobblers. One of the best things about family reunions is the food. 

February Birthdays

  I have been slacking on the blogging. I could say that we've been busy but let's be honest....I've been a bit lazy. =) Anyways, we had lots of fun family birthdays in February. It started with this cutie and then a few days later my dad.

Justin's sister Jyana's birthday is a few days before mine so we got together to have a fun family party. There was delicious food.

Jyana requested a pineapple upside down cake that I gladly made. I love a good pineapple upside down cake and the recipe I found used a good portion of butter and sugar my two favorite baking ingredients. =) It turned out really good. 

Here we are getting ready to blow out our candles with our flowers. My flowers  are still going strong.=)

And just cause he's cute.=)

A picture of the birthday girls. I am so glad that I get to share my birthday month/week with Jyana. She is awesome and a really great sister. She is a hard worker and super smart and creative with her job. I've always admired her and all that she does even when Justin and I dated in high school. Not to mention that I think she's gorgeous. 

For my actual birthday day we went to Logan and spent the day with my family. It was fun and I always love to play with my sisters and nieces.We went bowling and took my little niece. She was super excited. 

Here she is showing me her special shoes.

It was fun to celebrate birthdays and to have fun with family. I feel so blessed to be a part of my family and Justin's as well.