the joy and moral force of woman

over a month ago, i was privileged to listen to the prophet and apostles speak at the general conference of the church of jesus christ of latter-day sainsts (or, lds church). if you missed it, want to remember all the great words, or just want to check out what i'm even chatting about, check it out here.

out of all the great and amazing talks given, Elder Todd D. Christofferson gave one that i have reread and listened to countless times in the past month. it is titled the, "The Moral Force of Women" and it is beyond good!

in his talk that you can read or listen to here, Elder Christofferson actually quoted former young women general president Margaret D. Nadauld saying,

"The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."

Love love love this quote! What i love even more though is the original talk that this quote came from. Sister Nadauld's talk, "The Joy of Womanhood", was printed in the november 2000 issue of the ensign (lds magazine). I mean she starts out by saying,

"It is remarkable blessing to be a daughter of God today."

and ends with,

"Sisters, regardless of your age, please understand all that you are and must be, all that you were prepared to be in royal courts on high by God Himself. May we use with gratitude the priceless gifts we have been given for the lifting of mankind to higher thinking and nobler aspirations, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

How can you not read all of her words and feel so incredibly inspired and blessed to be a women here on earth? i know i still have a lot of work to become the best women, friend, wife, and daughter of god that I know i can be.  

weekend recap...and farm boy's mission

why is it i never get around to recapping our weekend until a new weekend is about to start? i'm too busy or just think i'm too busy, but we have too many great weekends to not recap them. and this past weekend was definitely a great one.

we started out with a trip down south to provo. now provo is home of the unspeakable university that we don't like to give any time of day to, but every once and awhile we grace "the bubble", as is it often referred to, with our presence (and then we quickly leave and get back to God's Country in cache valley). so as all the crazy cougars made their way north for the big football game we headed to their turf for pretty darn good reason if you ask me.

you see at the young age of 19 my amazing farm boy slash husband devoted two years of his life to spreading the gospel in the san bernadino area of california. in the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints it is often called serving a mission and many young men and women leave their home every year to completely give of themselves to the Lord. actually in our church conference this past weekend it was reported that the number of missionaries serving is currently 80,333 compared to 58,500 just one year ago. how incredible and exciting! for the duration of their mission they are wholeheartedly focused on spreading the word of the Lord with no contact with friends or families other than letters, emails, and two phone calls a year (those calls always happen on mothers day, and christmas day). men serve for two years, while women serve for 18 months. this past friday was farm boy's mission renunion. it was the first one he has ever attended and i'm so glad he went and that i got to go along of course.

farm boy served his two year mission from may of 2008 to may 2010, and only says the best about his experiences from those two years. him and i didn't meet until the spring of 2011, which means i wasn't around close to his mission days, but i have heard so so much in the past two and half years. i love love love to hear all about his experiences walking through the streets of cali, eating so much authentic hispanic food he thought he would die, and preaching the true gospel in what he calls the "celestial" language of spanish. he goes on to tell me all about the crazy times he had serving with other young men, but his eyes really light up when he is telling all the details of the amazing people he met. he has nothing but absolute love and adoration for those people of the san bernadino mission, and i love to hear him reminisce about it all.

he often says that serving his mission was the best decision he ever made (besides marrying me, of course), and i will have to agree with him. his mission is not only the best experiences of his life, but i know that is the best addition to our lives as well as our children.

i have been lucky enough to meet some the amazing people from his mission by returning to the san bernadino area with him, which is a whole another post in and of itself, but this past weekend i was able to meet his mission president and fellow missionaries from those two years. the mission itself was casual and low key with local hispanic food, a pinata and a get to know you game for the dates/spouses. i played along with all of the above (especially the food of course), after a little encouragement from sister sanchez (mission president's wife) for the pinata and game. the pinata was much tougher than i imagined and i had not luck, but the young feisty children did. i gladly joined in grabbing the scattered pieces of candy on the floor though. i can never turn down sugar in any form.

while i was worried about grabbing candy to satisfy my sweet tooth, farm boy enjoyed reminicsing with all his buddies about their good ole days in their slang title of "san b". they hooped. they hollered. they asked how so-and-so was, and when they had been back to the mission last. and at the end of the night everyone parted their ways, but what a great night is was to remember the past, catch up on the present, and look towards the future of not only the missionaries that were there, but also all the people back in san b that have been touched by such humble, selfless and dedicated men and women.

and what deep deep love i have for this nineteen year old boy that spent two years of his life to serve the Lord and truly fell in love with the hispanic people of southern california. his face lit up all night friday while he relived the days of san b with his close mission friends, and i couldn't help but light up with excitement, love, and laughter as well.

that fun filled friday night was just the start to a spectacular weekend. we made the long drive home that night and got a good nights sleep before heading to preston the next morning. saturday and sunday consisted of watching our church conference that was nothing short of amazing and i hope to pick out my favorite parts to show on this here blog. when the conference wasn't airing we were cooking up delicious meals, running or walking around the beautiful country side of idaho, and just spending time with farm boy's little brother. oh, and we fit in a pumpkin pie shake from big j's, preston's local fast food joint. i was skeptical at first, but man it was just another great addition to our weekend.

it's hump day already and the weekend is fast approaching. can't wait for another fun weekend with the farm boy!

almost time to "feast upon the words of christ"

it's only tuesday, but i am already pumped for this weekend! and not just for the usual reason of no work, but because it's one of the two weekends during the year we get to here from our beloved prophets and apostles. you see in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or LDS Church), we have "General Conference" twice a year that is broadcast across the world for anyone and everyone to see. or if you're lucky you can go straight to the source and watch it live in the conference center in salt lake city.

i remember as a little kid i was just excited to be able to stay home and lay around the living room in my pajamas and eat one heck of a meal in between the two different sessions. and now as an adult, i am beyond ready and willing to "feast upon the words of Christ" as it councils in 2 Nephi chapter 32, verse 3. it's time to get my moral compass on track and listen to the desired council from these inspired men. 

both saturday and sunday have two sessions each. you can watch or listen to it live or anytime after here.

october resolutions

at the beginning of every new year, millions of people decide on their new year's resolutions, or their goals to work on till the next new year begins. and as we all know tomorrow is the first day of october...not the new year, however i have decided to take this "start" of a new month  to be my "new start." it is time for some october resolutions people!

for the past few weeks i have been in a weird funk. i'm happy with my life, so so happy with an amazing husband, a great job, and loving friends and family. i am so so very blessed with so much, but i didn't feel like i was getting much accomplished at the end of each day. i haven't been holding myself accountable or pushing myself to achieve new things, so the need for some resolutions or goals has set in. and not only is it just me, but the hubby has noticed that our marriage could use some goals to work towards in the short-run, long- run and as he put it the long long-run. we have so many great ideas of things we want to accomplish together and it's time to put those goals in writing and make plans to accomplish them.

our goals in our marriage will be featured in there own snazzy post once we have them set, but for now i need to crack down and set personal goals to work towards this month. so without ado, my october 2013 resolutions shall be...

• Finish organizing and decorating our little newlywed college housing apartment. (That seems like quite a large goal, but we have been living there since the end of August and it is just time to get everything in its final place, and decorated more to be our little home for the next 8 months.)
• Learn to crochet (or knit).
• Exercise smart and eat healthier every day. (Lose some weight while you're at it!)
• Practice piano at least 5 times a week. (I have been struggling to practice multiple times each week and that is no good if i want to improve.)
• Read your scriptures every day with a purpose, and remember to start and end with a prayer!
• Don't forget to pray! Pray each morning and night and often in between.
• Listen and study a General Conference talk each week.

man, i think i could go on forever! i have so many different ideas in my head of areas i want to work on, but those are the big ones lately (especially getting our apartment together and finished once and for all). it will be interesting to see how this goes, but i'm excited to work towards improving myself and using my time wiser. and to be honest, i'm even more excited to sit down with the hubby and make our goals together.

so here's to a fun fall month full of resolution work!