Pilates for Kindergartners

Today during Yoga Lizzie came upstairs while she was trying to keep all the kids in the basement. She ran back downstairs and I soon heard Snow Patrol playing from our DVD player in the basement. I thought it was funny that she wanted to dance instead of usual play but whatever Dance Parties are fun too. After we were all done and before the kids knew that we were done I ran downstairs to grab something for a friend. When I walked down the stairs snow patrol was still playing but instead of a dance party I saw Lizzie sitting at the front of the room and the 6 other kids in lines sitting Indian style with their little hands in prayer position. Lizzie was just telling them to relax their knees and breathe in deeply. I ran through the room choking back the laughter and when I came out Lizzie had them lying on their backs pulling themselves up into C curves using the exact same words that I use when instructing my pilates class. I don't know whether to be disturbed or extremely proud. I guess if Gold's Gym decides to open up a preschool class taught by a preschooler I would have the perfect instructor for them.

I'm supposed to write this

It was the end of the year of my first year at USU. I had just recently been called to serve as the Vice President of Service for the Latter Day Saints Single Association (L.D.S.S.A.) and I was in a pretty sad place. I had made some choices that were bringing me some serious grief and someone else had made a choice that caused me some tremendous heartache. I was one of those stupid girls that had a missionary and had somehow miraculously survived the entire two years he was gone without accepting any marriage proposals. When he got home he decided I wasn't that cool or something (seriously don't cry for me people I'm over it by a long long way but I'm just setting the story here) anyhow he broke up with me and seriously shattered my heart in a million bazillion pieces. After he broke up with me in January I always figured he'd come back to me because, honestly, it was me..how on earth can anyone do better than me? Well he had just emailed me that day that he was engaged.. yes just a short 3 months after dumping me. I was seriously distraught. I wasn't getting along the best with my roommates which I'm pretty sure was my fault for being a selfish immature brat because those girls are all seriously wonderful girls. As I was walking back to my house after feeling completely deflated after taking a seriously crappy final that I was pretty sure I had flunked (stupid Statistics is there really a point to that class) I was dreading the loneliness and utter dismal prospects of my life. I felt friendless despite knowing a whole bunch of people and honestly being in one of the happiest places on earth. As I walked down old main hill I found myself pleading with my Heavenly Father...I needed someone or something to help rally my heart back to it's usual happy state. I was miserable and every second I spent by myself the more I hated myself. I knew that Heavenly Father loved me and that he would somehow be able to snap me out of this self loathing state. As I opened the door to my own personal pit of despair the telephone rang and I answered it. The following conversation took place:
"Hello, is Andrea there?"
"This is she." I was pretty sure it was some sort of telemarketer out to tell me that I was a terrible person and giving up on everything would be the best solution for the entire world."
"Hey Andrea, it's Haylie from LDSSA. I was thinking we haven't really gotten to know each other and I'd really like to get you know you better. Do you have time to hang out with me tonight."
Part of me really wanted to let her know that she was wasting her time trying to get to know me because really she would have had a better time stroking piranhas then wasting her time getting to know me. But some how I choked out a "Sure." and then she said
"Great, I'll be by to get you in 30 minutes."
I think I kind of stared at the phone for a long time. None of my roommates were home. They seemed to know when I would be home and avoided me like someone carrying the plague. Which really I was carrying a serious plague of the majorly downs. Soon enough Haylie showed up in her car and I followed her back to her car in a zombie like trance. I don't really remember our conversation but before I knew it we were walking toward a group of people who were laughing and for some strange reason having a good time. I looked at what all these people were doing and they were painting wooden toys. I thought it was really weird that these college students were having such a good time painting, cars, trains and trucks and why the heck would you want to play with them. Haylie then explained to me that it was A week and this was the service project. There was a man who would carve all of these toys and then send them off to other places in the world for kids who didn't have anything to play with. As I saw boxes and boxes and boxes of all these wooden toys my heart was touched by this faceless man who took so much time to lovingly carve each of these toys. Our job was to paint them to give them just a bit more flair and color. I picked up a brush and did my best to paint a truck a happy color of blue. Haylie and I didn't really chat much, no one asked me why I was sad. I didn't have the chance to go off on my roommates and how mean they were being to me (really they weren't but at the time it seemed like it) I didn't get to tell my sob story how my missionary dumped me and found love so quickly after leaving me. None of that really seemed to matter. It was as if each brush stroke put things more into persepective. These were all just experinces I was called to go through. I was going to make it. I had a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I had a loving family despite them being miles and miles away. Friends would come and go and it really was all my decision on how other's actions affected me. By the time my happy blue truck was painted my heart was light. I grabbed another car and started to paint it a happy red color. I started chatting away with others around me and couldn't help how my heart felt happy and light. By the time we had finished all the boxes of wooden toys everyone was laughing and smiles were on everyones faces. As Haylie and I got back in her car and headed back to my place I realzied we didn't talk much yet I felt like I knew her so well. As we pulled into my driveway Haylie said,
"I almost didn't call you Andrea. I had just finished saying my prayers and felt so strongly that I should call you. I was worried what you would think about me, worried what we would say to each other. But I knew I had to call you."
My eyes filled with tears. I tried to choke back all the emotions I was feeling. I knew why Haylie had that impression. I was so grateful for her and her willingness to follow the spirit. I knew that Haylie would forever be one of those great friends and for the first time since I had received my calling to serve as the VP over Service in LDSSA I felt up to serving in that capacity and so grateful that so many other great people had been called to serve with me. Instead of telling Haylie all these thoughts crowding my mind all I could say to Haylie was
"Thanks for Calling me." Haylie and I went on to be wonderful friends and I will forever be grateful for her constant out reach to me whenever I felt down.
I've learned so much from Haylie's great example and I hope that those of you reading this might have picked up on it as well.
1. Never ever doubt those promptings of the spirit. Sometimes we worry we may feel silly calling someone who just crosses our mind or knocking on someones door to just give them a hug. We may worry of rejection or maybe there's nothing wrong with the person at all. I'm sure I seemed happy enough to everyone on the outside. Honestly I can fake happiness really really easily and there were only two people in the entire universe who really knew what was going on the inside of me...Me and Heavenly Father. So don't doubt when the spirit whispers to your heart that someone needs something. Just DO IT!
2. When we are down sometimes we just want to vent and let others hear how terrible we have it. Somehow hoping to vindicate our own emotions and gather some pity. Haylie took me to do some service. As I served those less fortunate than me my burdens weren't taken away but I was lightened. With an overwhelming feeling that I was capable of doing what I was called to do. I don't know sometimes you need to vent but today I have this overwhelming feeling that if we get off our pity boxes and try to serve someone else we will be filled with that light of Christ that comes with any act of charity. That light will help us to see things more clearly and being able to gain the perspective that we all need.

I miss seeing Haylie on a daily basis and Haylie if you ever happen to read this you'll never know how indebted I am to you and your amazing testimony. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. He will never ever call us through a trial that we cannot handle and as long as our hearts and minds are open he will bless us with the perspective we need. I know that as we serve others we will be filled with the light of Christ and we will see miracles in our lives and the lives of others.

We're all Winners in our hearts

So I'm a crazy person..You all know that...You all probably get a kick out of it and that's really why you read this blog. But as a crazy person I did a crazy thing I entered this contest.
Ummm I'm slightly in love with Brooke's work and try really hard not to covet her talents so I figured the best thing for me to do is just blog stalk her and learn as much as I can from her. So when she came up with this contest I hoped that one of my friends would nominate me..I mean...come on...I could be considered beautiful in some cultures. But really when it got down to it (Warning: this next statement may seem arrogant, prideful and down right ridiculous) I know that I'm a beautiful person. I know I'm not a drop dead gorgeous pageant queen. I know I'm not the next cover model of vogue magazine. I know that when people describe me beautiful may not be one of the first things they say as they describe me, but I know that I'm beautiful. So as the crunch for the deadline came closer and closer and the nominations of people became more heart felt and moving and my friends seemed to somehow miss all the secret mind messages I was sending to nominate me I decided to do a very un-beautiful thing and nominate myself.

Here's what I wrote:

Andrea wrote:
Gaaa!!I can’t believe I’m doing this. But I’m going to nominate myself just merely for the fact that the reason I think I’m beautiful has yet to be mentioned.
As a small child I grew up singing the song “I Am a Child of God” and that one simple bit of knowledge helped me radiate my own true beauty through the ratty hair, massive amounts of freckles and those giant buck teeth that seemed to be the brunt of everyone’s jokes.
More importantly that knowledge grew with me as I went through that awkward teenage years. It helped me make good decisions and really helped me shine through out high school.
But now as a full pledge Mother, Wife and (shoot I feel so old saying this) Woman knowing that I am a daughter of God has solidified my beauty. I know that I am beautiful not only when I’m dressed to the nines but more importantly when I’m dressed in my baggy sweats and peanut butter and jelly covered tee shirts. I know I’m beautiful when I’m going out on a hot date with my hubby but more importantly I feel beautiful when I’m teaching my children about who they really are and helping them realize their own potential. I know I’m beautiful when my husband lovingly tells me so but more importantly I feel I’m beautiful when I feel the spirit whisper a reminder of who I am to my heart after a heartfelt prayer.
I’ve never been the jaw-dropping, breath taking beauty..but I hope that my kind of beauty always makes people feel as though they are a better person, possibly a little happier and a little more full of hope all because they know that there is a loving heavenly father that no matter what loves them, and they have the same potential to become like him.

I could drone on and on about this it’s kind of a tender spot for me. I don’t really expect for you to pick me there are so many moving stories on your blog already but this must be said. Everyone should feel beautiful take a look at all the creations our heavenly father has created..He does not know how to make anything less than beautiful. And despite what we may view as imperfections or flaw our spirits are beautiful and truly radiate TRUE beauty.

Honestly I could go over this a whole bunch more times and probably will in the course of my writings. Nothing drives me more bonkers than women who constantly put themselves down because they can't find anything beautiful about themselves. Women, who despite their beauty focuses on those unimportant flaws, imperfections as if to discount the amazing beauty that radiates from us all.

We are children of a loving heavenly Father and even more importantly to the women who read this you are his daughter. You were created in the image of deity. The beauty that each of us posess doesn't come from just our physical bodies but more importantly from the person inside the spirit daughter of God realizing her potential to become like her Father and striving to obtain that potential.

Now I must admit that I'm not perfect in recognizing my own beauty and I have from time to time felt a little less because my outer beauty may not be the most awesome ever but I have never doubted my beauty when I was in the service of someone else, I've never doubted my beauty when I have shared my testimony or have felt my testimony grow. I've never doubted my beauty when I've recieved an answer to a prayer. These times are really the times that matter. I'm not going to lie to you I really make an effort to look good (k not every day as I am currently sitting in my chair with my sweats on and my hair pulled back in a pony tail) but I enjoy doing my hair and putting on make-up and dressing nicely not because that's the only chance I have of looking beautiful but I like to think of dressing up as having the outside match what's on the inside.

I don't know....I kind of feel like I'm rambling now...but I hope you all feel this from time to time. Remeber that you are beautiful. Remember that you are the daughter of a king and have the potential to become a queen and receive all the grace and beauty that comes with that.

A conversation that I didn't get to converse in.

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend Women's conference with my Mom and one of her sisters. Turned out another sister wouldn't be able to attend, and since my entire life my mom always called me by this sister's name, I was a perfect fit. I left my house early Friday morning and arrived at BYU at bright and early 7:30 a.m. I was blown away by all the women there and honestly it took my nose a second to adjust to all the different forms of purfume roaming through the air.
I was soon able to meet with my Mom and her sister and prepared ourselves to be uplifted and edified. We listened to some great speakers and my heart really was lightened and I felt an immeadete rejoicing with all the sisters meeting there.
I listened to my Mom and her sister talk as we went from place to place and learned a lot about their relationship and witnessed first hand the give and take of sisterhood.
Our closing speaker was Elder L. Tom Perry and did he ever give us a message. He talked a lot about Missionary work and how WE all have influence of how the church is viewed. He gave us some starting points on how we can better the image of the church by just being ourselves and not being afraid to be who we are. I was so inspired and commited to my part even better.
It truly was awe inspiring to see 20,000+ women gathered together wanting to help better their homes, their communities and even more the world. As we sang the closing song "The Lord Is my Light" the music soared through my body and slowly every woman was on their feet singing this glorious song uniting in spirit and word.
After the prayer we made a mad dash to the BYU bookstore to pick up a few momento's and decided to grab some dinner before we all went our seperate ways. My mom's other sister called and was able to meet us for dinner and wanted a blow by blow report of each class we attended. When we began to discuss Elder Perry's talk I was soon edged out of the conversation. The aunt whom I had spent the entire day with then said that Missionary work would be able to spread more easily if people would leave Utah and get out in the real world. She then began to assail on all "Utah Mormons ". As she began to talk more and more I felt as if she were saying if You belong to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and live in Utah you are not really serving the church. Afterall she had sacraficed her children's relationships with her family so that they could live in Washington. My mom and her sisters continued to argue the point my Mom being the only Utah Mormon of the three and somehow I was unable to get a word in. It was probably for the better BUT I want to be able to write down my responses to her accusations if anything just so I don't blow them out at her next time I see her.
When Jeremy was finishing school he applied for every single job ever offered to an electrical engineer. He was blessed enough to have 6 job offers some of which were out of the state of Utah. I was so excited at the possibilites each of those offers brought to our life. As we narrowed down our decision it came down to 2 offers one was in Salt Lake City working for a large engineering firm which he had tried to get an internship with earlier in his collegic carreer, this company had a great reputation for taking care of it's employees and the work they did really interested Jeremy. The 2nd was working for a naval weapons testing area in California they paid for both me and Jeremy to go out and tour the facility and explore the area. The area was amazing the people were so friendly and I honestly could picture us raising a family there. I was excited to have the missionary experince and realized that it would be hard to be away from our families but knew that if that's where the Lord needed us to be that we would be blessed for it. We came back home and began to weigh out the pro's and con's and really started praying and fasting to figure out the Lord's will for us. We had blessings from our bishop and went to the temple several times. Finally in a moment of clarity and with a peace that only the spirit can bring we knew what was the right decision for our family. We accepted the job in Salt Lake City and began house hunting in the surrounding areas until we felt that same peace about our current home in Tooele. In a way I was so disappointed that we weren't leaving Utah and that my children would not be able to have those experinces that I so desired as a child.
Three years have come and gone since all of those decisions and I've had some time to see maybe some of the reasons why The Lord needed us here. Most of my neighbors are active members of our ward and the few who aren't active we've been able to become friends with. I've been able to have a small role and have seen a few people become converted in our time here but I wouldn't say that I've had any fantastic missionary experinces. If I am able to see anything of our short stay here it is being able to bloom where I'm planted. It's been my desire to help stregthen those around me and really bring the love of Christ more fully into the lives of those who I meet, whether they belong to the church of Jesus Christ or not. We can do a lot by stregthening our own members in our own ward and hope that maybe as I do that that somehow it blesses the lives of others. So dear Aunt, Please don't criticize me for being just another Utah Mormon. Know that we are where the Lord needs us to be. Jeremy and I commited a long time ago to go where He wants us to go, and Be what he wants us to be. I'm quite sure that there are many others living here in Utah that fall in the same catagory as us. We're not trying to hide our light and really are trying to be the best versions of ourselves.
I know for me as a high school teenager I still faced having to stand up for what was right even though my friends were all members of the church and had been taught the same standards that I had. That was really hard for me to have to remove myself from my friends because I knew that the choices they were making were wrong despite all of us being taught the same thing from the time we were young. Challenges will be presented to us regardless of where we live and who we're friends with. Having a relationship with your family still takes effort even if you live in the same state. I really think that what it comes down to is being able to further your testimony, striving to live up to your potential regardless of where you live. The question is Are you? I hope so. During this small moment of our mortal existence we are trying to align our Will with our Father's by using our own free agency. It's a process but I feel like we're doing our best. I know that as long as I'm living up to the covenants that I've made we will always be striving for that.
I'm grateful for the spirit and it's help in leading us to the right choices for our family and testify that as long as we earnestly seek it with a humble heart and open mind we can find the joy and happiness that is our for the taking. So I challenge you all (all 5 of you who read this blog) to stop and reflect, Are you where the Lord wants you? Are you being what the Lord wants you to be? Are you willing to do what he would have you do? If you are wonderful! Keep it up! Don't let go of that feeling and always strive to have it with you. If you feel like something is amiss, Pray, Ponder find out what it is that the Lord would have you do. I promise you that once you become inline with what his will is you will experince a joy that can only come from staying true to those things.

eight minutes that i enjoyed

Progression

Hey Readers,
So see this picture....See me bottom row second person from the left. Yes that is me in a basketball jersey without makeup and wearing those sporty head bands that keep your hair out of your eyes. Yes those are my cute little legs slightly blinding white but the point is that they are little and quite shapely if i can say so myself. This has been my latest endeavor. Now some of you may think it's no big deal to be on a basketball team that you didn't have to try out for or let alone play really well and still be able to get time on the courts but to me it's been a big deal.
I guess some people have considered me sporty but for those of you who really know me know that I'm not really sporty just knowledgeable about sports. For background I do have 5 very athletic and gifted brothers and I did play football and basketball with them regularly but I didn't play very well. I started ballet at the age of 4 and retired from that "sport" right before my 20th birthday. I still dance but just so you can all picture it all my "sporty" stuff is now done with a classically trained ballet mode. I run with my feet turned out and with proper posture. My husband who has perfect running form and could run 26.2 miles without any training and do it in record time has tried to correct my form to "improve" my running ability but he's fighting 15 years of ballet and old women with rulers yelling at me and constantly correcting my form so ballet always wins.
Jeremy has been really supportive of me running even if he silently snickers at what I consider my fast times and my long distances but when I told Jeremy I was going to go play basketball with other women Jeremy just couldn't take it any longer. He gently reminded me that I was not an athlete to help spare me embarrassment. Now maybe if I was a different woman I would have heeded his council and been satisfied with my pilates and running. But I'm prideful and his comments if anything spurred me on to prove him wrong.
Our first game I was completely intimidated. I could tell by the form of 9/10 of the women there had at least high school experience and wasn't shocked to find out many of them had college time as well. I play basketball like a ballerina trying to play basketball. My one and only advantage was that I was some what in shape and could run up and down the court without being winded. I still hyperventilated every time I was passed the ball and did my best to either pass it away or dribble a couple of times and make a ridiculous shot that somehow by a miracle at least came close to touching the basket.
But I played and was blown away when people said I was fast (because really I'm not) but I knew I was in shape enough to run about 4 miles without stopping.
Fast forward a few weeks and me feeling a little more comfortable about touching a basketball and actually being able to get it in the hoop. In addition I remembered how to guard and make other people feel intimidated by my "large" stature just as I'm starting to feel more comfortable the wonderful women I play with inform me that we're actually going to compete. I then start preparing my excuse why I can't play against other women and hope that for some reason I wouldn't be able to make it. But unfortunately I feel connected to these women and although my talent is so pale in comparison to theirs I know that I'll play with them. We practice a couple more times and sure enough the competition is here. I am so nervous by this day but that's where my competitive nature comes in. I have this fail safe feature about me that holds on to the fact that I'm AWESOME. As I contemplate my own awesomeness I realize that regardless of the out come of the competition I will remain AWESOME. It's how I've been my whole life and has gotten me through so much of my life but it's been awhile since I've had to rely on it.
We play a couple of games and do not look even close to the team that we've been as we've practiced together but I have a great time. We lose terribly but have a great time cheering each other on and show all the other teams how teams should look and act. As I looked at our defeat I started to wonder if this was just my lot in life. Always losing, coming in 2nd never really excelling and being my best. When my inner moderator (my personal biggest fan) reminds me of what I've accomplished. In a matter of weeks I went from barley being able to shoot a ball to being able to dribble a ball down a court calling a play and actually knowing where everyone should be after I call the play. I have improved and because of the friendships and pure awesomeness of these ladies I am continually improving.
Here's where I bring everything into perspective for everyone by yet another story from my life. I have had the privilege of getting to know nearly all of my great grandparents and have learned so much from them. My Father's maternal grandparents have by far been such role models to me. My Great Grandpa Warner was raised in a small community in Utah County during the great depression he met his wife on a blind date and was smitten to begin with. They were so in love with each other and were able to raise a beautiful family. My father was very close with them as the oldest grandchild and they loved him more than I'm sure he will ever realize. As my father aged and started his own family we were able to have a very unique and close relationship with my great grandparents. I remember spending many days fishing, gardening and enjoying the company of my great grandparents. When I was little I didn't realize what the great meant and honestly thought they were called great grandparents because in fact they were GREAT. Grandpa was always learning. Many times we would stop by around lunch time and find Grandpa reading some sort of book usually trigonometry or some other informative book. When Grandpa was in his mid-80's he bought a computer and started to teach himself how to use it and began writing out his own personal history. Sadly enough Grandma died and 3 months later Grandpa died of a broken heart. They were such a power couple always learning and progressing themselves and improving upon what they were given.
Now here I am 28 years old and I know that I need to also be improving and progressing. Right now it's easy to improve my health and be physically active. But with Basketball I was also able to improve my mind, my relationships with others and my overall self worth. So here's to more progression. More improving who I am and pushing that envelope of what I'm comfortable with all the time.
Thanks to the Charlie's Angels/Nancies/working girls that I play with and help me improve myself. And for any of you out there feeling really comfortable where you are try pushing yourself out just a little bit more and remember that this life is to progress and improve upon what we've been given.

It HAD to be said.

Wow. Who doesn't love fast and testimony meeting? Our ward here in Tooele is so awesome. There are so many people who are rooted deep in the gospel and truly help me to see how to live better and become more like my savior. This Sunday's meeting was not any different either. We had so many Youth share their budding testimonies thanks to a little "challenge" from the bishop. I think the Young Women won there seemed to be more of them but the Young Men did a decent job as well. Just as the contest was getting really heated between the YW and YM a sweet sister in our ward got up whom I've learned and grown to love. She's very oppionated and has no qualms sharing her oppinions. She will be the first to admit this and always will give a side note that she may offend you even though that is not her intentions it's just the way she is. Well she began to tell about her trip to the Draper Temple Open House and how miserable it was because there was a mother and father who had the odacity to bring their 7 young children to the temple and amazingly enough the children where less than well behaved. She continued to complain on how she couldn't feel the spirit in the temple and this young family was all to blame. (K side note she has three children the oldest of which is 28 and then has an 18 year old girl and a 12 year old boy). She said to top off the awfulness when they got on a shuttle bus there was another young family with crazy kids and she had enough and let the father of the young family know that he needed to control his kids. Then she felt the need to let our very very young ward (we have a giant size ward with a humongus primary) (we had just had 3 baby blessings before the sacrament and there are quite a few sister in our ward ready to deliver even more babies) that our ward is hard to feel the spirit in because of all the kids are really loud and we need to get control and make our kids shut-up. A sister struggling with her own kids in front of me turned around and said "well, i've officially been rebuked." and another mom struggling with her 4 children behind me let out an audible gasp of horror. The sister continued on and said how her husband is really good to let things like this not bother him but she wasn't like him. As she finished up her testimony I couldn't even hear what she was saying because my heart was beating so loud and hard. I then had a mini dellima going on was my heart beating because I was mad and wanted to put that sister in her place or was I really feeling the spirit. I began to pray as I wrestled with my apparently "out of control" children to dechiper really what I was feeling as soon as I finished praying a childhood memory flooded back into my mind in full force and color and I knew that I HAD to share it.
I walked up to the super packed chapel with my crazy loud baby boy in my arms and shared the following story: (side note I promise I was lead by the spirit and what I said I'm not quite sure but I can tell you the memory but it may not hit you with the spirit that I felt while sharing that and for that I apologize)

In 1984 the Manti Temple was refurbished and updated to be a little more modern for the ease of accomadating the temple going people of the area. My parents had recently moved into the Manti temple district and decided to take their young family (My older brother was 7 I was 3 almost 4 my younger brother was 1 and half and my mom was pregnant with another baby) for the two hour trek to the temple. When we finally arrived to the temple I remember leaving my shoes at the front door. I was really apprehensive of leaving my beloved fancy church shoes at the door but was reassured by the fact that I knew Angels where at the temple and would protect my shoes. We walked through the entire temple I remember being confused at the baptismal font and why there were cows holding it up but we moved on. The next part I remember was walking up the spiral staircase to the sealing room and seeing my face in the mirror. As we began to go down the stairs I was terrified. My dad picked me up in his big Daddy arms and carried me down the steps and I knew I was safe. When we reached the bottom of the steps my dad gently placed me to the ground and knelt and looked at me he then said "Andrea, the next time you walk down these steps will be with the man you will have for all eternity."
We went on our merry way and I thought back on those moments from time to time and knew that I wanted to be married in the temple. It wasn't always easy to make the right choices but I knew that is where I wanted to be. Almost 18 years later I walked down those very same steps holding the hand of the man that I so deeply love. We had just been sealed and as we reached the bottom steps I couldn't help but think of my father and mother and the sacrafices they had made to make sure I knew how important temples are.

As I am now a parent of three young children sometimes it's really hard to get out and go to the temple. You have to find babysitters and often times it would be much easier to stay at home and know that someday when it gets easier we'll go to the temple and I remember the example of my parents and I know it's worth it now.

I finished my testimony and sat down but to you my readers I want to finish some thoughts. I am so grateful that my parents risked the chance of being scrutinized for having so many little kids and risking people judging there lack of parenting skills. As we took our own three little kids to the draper temple open house we worried if they would behave, if they too would disrupt the spirit there and worried that other might be upset as well. Jeremy woke up that morning with a serious sinus infection but still wanted to go to the temple with the kids so that they could have their chance to feel that spirit. To be completly honest our kids were by far less than perfect. Abby wanted to run all over and touch every single thing. Will fussed and cried and Lizzie had a hard time wanting me to hold her hand the entire time which was hard while I was trying to steer my sinus driven husband in the right direction while holding my squirmy two year old and comfort my one year old baby. But we went, a spirit was felt and now all I can do is continue to teach the importance of temples and show the blessing that my covenants are in my life.

When we make the effort the results may not always be perfect but the blessings will always be there. I am so grateful for the opportunities I have to teach my children and the reflections I have of my own childhood. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ resides here on this earth today. I know that Joseph Smith truly saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and truly restored the gospel in all of it's glory. I love my Savior and know that as I strive to live as he would I can be made perfect through the gift of the atonement.

For those of you who would like to go through the Draper Temple you still have time here's the link to get tickets. The tour ends March 14th.