Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Today was Mom and Dad's 35th wedding anniversary!!!! Mom and Dad are great examples of how to have a happy marriage. They respect each other's opinions and talents, and they work together in an equal partnership. Thank you for being such great parents! Mom and Dad were nice enough to let me join in on their anniversary temple trip this evening. We went over to the Mount Timpanogos Temple, had dinner, and did a temple session. There surely isn't a better way to spend an anniversary than by attending the temple and remembering those important covenants. It was a wonderful evening, and I am grateful for the nice time I was able to spend with Mom and Dad.

And I can't believe that I am getting married one week from tomorrow!!!!! Time has totally been flying by lately, and it's hard to fathom the fact that the wedding is finally upon us. It used to sound really far away, but now it seems like I just barely got home from school :-) Greg will be flying out here on Tuesday. It will have been four months since we've seen each other!

With the approaching marriage on my mind, I've been having quite the strange dreams lately. Last night I was paddling around the Florida Keys in a canoe with my sister Sarah. We were in search of a "wedding tree"--whatever the heck that is--to haul back and use as a decoration at the wedding luncheon. We were going around from island to island looking for just the right tree, but were not having much success. Then we got out of the canoe and started swimming around in the shark-infested waters. It was all kind of like "Merry Christmas Charlie Brown" (the part where we were searching for a tree) meets "Jaws" (the part where we were swimming with sharks). I don't really remember what happened after that, but I do remember that there was cake involved.

Still-Life Camp Floyd

Lindy's blog post from the other day entitled "Still-Life Weekend" inspired me to start looking more closely at everything around me. So, for my last day at Camp Floyd, I decided to zoom-in and try to capture the essence of the park with my camera. I totally love my camera--it's such a trooper. Unfortunately after I took the very first picture this morning, my camera was injured in an encounter with the asphault. Yet, it still hung on and took all of these great pictures for me. It rocks! The lens won't close now, and it keeps saying "Zoom Error," so I'm going to try to get it fixed tomorrow. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working at Camp Floyd and hope that you enjoy these little glimpses into the soul of the park.

The Ghost of Camp Floyd

Today is Grandpa Dick's birthday--Happy Birthday Grandpa! I am really hoping that he and Grandma will be able to come up to the wedding. It would be wonderful to have them here.

Today was also an infamous "school day" at Camp Floyd. School days are always quite hectic--especially when there are only two of us working. Sergeant James dressed up in his uniform, and I in my hoop skirt, and we took on all 88 fourth graders. As the kids were getting off the bus, I was standing there to greet them. I started to wonder what was wrong as I noticed that a few of the kids looked absolutely terrified as they walked past me. Other kids just kept staring at me. Some of the kids looked amused. Then I started getting questions like, "How old are you?" and "Can you fly?" and "Do you live here?" and "Is your dress real?" and "Can you walk through walls?" Come to find out, when they pulled up in the bus and saw me standing there in my period outfit, their teacher told them that I was a ghost from Camp Floyd. Great, thanks for totally freaking the kids out. :-) I have been wanting to see a ghost at Camp Floyd, but I guess it's as simple as looking in the mirror.

Later this afternoon I kept seeing these little animals running around. I went out to investigate and found a momma cat with her two ADORABLE kitties. They were soooooooo cute!!!! At first they were scared of me, but when I started saying, "Meow," they were quite intrigued. We quickly became best friends. Cats are funny in that the babies can look totally different from each other and from their parents. This was quite the eclectic cat trio: Momma was orange in color, Baby #1 (whom I have named Albert Sidney Johnston) looked like a Siamese kitty, and Baby #2 (whom I have named John Carson) was a very dark Calico kitty. James was quite annoyed by the cats and said that they don't belong to anyone and that I should take them home with me. I was very tempted, but realized that three cats, Greg, me, and all of my stuff probably wouldn't fit into my car--and three cats and two dogs might be a few too many pets for right now (Greg has two dogs) :-) But I hope that I see the kitties again tomorrow. I can't believe that tomorrow is my last day of work at Camp Floyd!

Fall Flu Shots

Check out this morning's beautiful sunrise over the snowy mountain peaks!!! I snapped this picture just as Dad and I were leaving to head into BYU, and we were surprised that the sky stayed like this for quite a while. Usually those really pretty moments are very short-lived. The sunrise kicked off a perfect, gorgeous fall day. I went into campus with Dad this morning to tie up a few loose research ends on an article I'm hoping to have published in BYU Studies. I was seriously in heaven this morning, as I had several uninterrupted hours to spend at my favorite place: the Harold B. Lee Library. I seriously am in love with that place and would spend all day every day there if I could. I miss being a student at BYU. When I first started out there as a freshman, I took it for granted, but thankfully I soon realized what a blessing it was to have the opportunity to attend such a university. After spending time away and seeing how things are at other schools, I have gained an even deeper appreciation for my alma mater. The student body at BYU is most definitely unique (in a good way), and there are some amazing professors and faculty members there (I'm especially fond of the Assistant Dean in the College of Life Sciences!). There is a special spirit there, and I can't think of a more beautiful setting for a college campus. Basically, I LOVE BYU!!! Even though I'll be far away in a couple of weeks, and right now I am technically an Eastern Illinois University Panther, deep down I'll always be a BYU Cougar.


Since, in addition to BYU, we're on the topic of cool fall nature photographs, check out this sunflower that Mom and I found next to a parking lot in Springville the other day. We were sitting in the car when Mom spotted a pretty little clump of bright sunflowers. We found this little guy standing all by himself, and discovered that he was the perfect subject for a rather artsy photograph.

Well, nothing says fall quite like flu shots :-) I actually love getting flu shots because it means I get to have a fun outing with Mom and Dad (and Rich came along today too--except not for a flu shot, just for the fun outing). Last year when I got a flu shot by myself in Charleston just for the sake of getting a flu shot, it was zero fun. So I was glad to once again join in the annual BYU flu shot fun today. After receiving our dose of flu protection, we had a yummy lunch at Stan's Drive-In. Then Mom, Rich, and I went to go see the new conservative-slanted movie, "An American Carol" which, unfortunately, is only being shown at a limited number of theaters. Good ol' Spanish Fork was the closest place to us where it was supposedly showing, so we drove over there. But there was no one at the theater (literally), so our quest to support a very rare non-liberal cinematic event was for naught. But we still had a fun afternoon.

Well, I'd better go to bed since tomorrow will be a busy day at Camp Floyd. We've got a flock of fourth graders coming, and it will just be James and me holding down the fort there, so it will surely be crazy. I can't believe that Wednesday will be my last day at Camp Floyd! I have really enjoyed working there and will be sad to leave. Although, it is kind of a funny place. The other day Mark said to me, "Oh, before you leave, we'll have to have you go to BYU and find all of the journals in Special Collections that talk about Camp Floyd." If he had been making a joke, it would have been a funny one, but he was serious. While I of course always love an excuse to visit Special Collections, there are hundreds of journals there that potentially talk about Camp Floyd. There is no way that I could even chip off the very tip of the iceberg before Wednesday. So I said, "Ummmmm, actually, I think that's a project I would have needed to start back in June." He thought about it for a minute and said, "Oh, right, because next week is your last week here. Well is there any way you could make copies of the journals before then?" Nope. However I am going to compile a list of the relevant journals that Special Collections has, but I'm afraid that reading through and making copies of those journals will have to be a project for another intern--or if he wants to hire me to come back and do it as a real employee, that would be cool too :-)

Conference Weekend

We love General Conference weekend around here! What a wonderful opportunity to listen to and learn from our Church leaders. It also gives us a good chance to spend time together as a family (since weekends are typically pretty busy). Here's a picture of three Conference-watching girls today :-) We had a fun lunch with the Barretts today in between sessions, and Mom and I had a great Girls' Night Out with Lindy, Cam, Riley, and Sid last night. While the boys went to Priesthood Meeting yesterday evening, we girls went to Arctic Circle and had some yummy sweet potato fries and pumpkin pie shakes. The girls especially loved the Halloween flashlights they got in their square pumpkin kids' meals. Then we went back to their house and watched the Disney channel--could there be a more perfect Girls' Night Out?

All of the Conference talks this weekend were wonderful, but a few especially stood out to me. I thoroughly enjoyed Elder Perry's talk on Saturday morning about simplifying our lives. He gave some excellent advice about staying out of debt and being prepared for whatever life has in store for us. I also always love Elder Wirthlin's talks. On Saturday afternoon he spoke about adversity. I especially enjoyed his admonition to laugh instead of complain. He said, "The way we react to adversity can determine our happiness." Elder Nelson's talk about marriage this afternoon was especially appropriate for me since I have marriage on the brain. Sometimes people who are not members of the Church don't understand why not everyone can attend a temple marriage or what the significance of a temple marriage is. I liked how he explained that a temple marriage is the "highest and most enduring type of marriage," and the only type of marriage that continues on beyond this life.

It is interesting how if you prayerfully listen to General Conference and have specific concerns on your mind, you always hear the perfect message that addresses those concerns and answers questions for you. The perfect talk that I needed to hear was given by President Monson during today's morning session. When he started out by saying, "Change--nothing is as constant as change," I knew that he was going to be talking right to me :-) I have never enjoyed or dealt well with change. Even when the change is a good one, it is still change, and that always bothers me. Some definite, huge, monumental life changes are quickly approaching for me, and even though they are good changes, I am still a little nervous because of the mere fact that change is involved. So, President Monson's words were exactly what I needed to hear. He said, "Find joy in the journey--NOW." He talked about how if we're always living for the future, we'll miss out on a lot of joy in the present. He quoted Horace who said, "Whatever God has blessed you with, take it. Then, no matter where you go, you can say that you have lived happily." That is a very wise statement--we can be happy wherever we are if we choose to be. If we don't appreciate the present, we'll find that the future comes too quickly, and we'll have missed out on a lot of good things. President Monson said, "Rather than dwelling on the past, we must enjoy the present. . . . Let us relish life as we live it. . . . Adapt to the changes in your life, express gratitude, and find joy in the journey." What wonderful counsel! His words will be good for me to remember as I head out on a new adventure in a couple of weeks.

It was a little chilly and rainy here this weekend, but the sun came out this afternoon, and we saw that the cold spell had left us with a beautiful sight: snow-capped mountains! I love it when it snows on top of Timpanogos. It looks especially pretty right now with snow on top of the mountains and fall colors in the foothills. Utah Valley truly is a beautiful place.