Nothing Blog-worthy

I wish that I could report on adventures in skydiving or paragliding or flying lessons, but nothing noteworthy occurred this week, so I'll share the un-noteworthy: Work. Lots of cancellations due to some poor weather. Institute began again. I celebrated a friend's birthday by going out to dinner with her and some other friends. I ate Thai food and watched The Red Tails with friends, and basically feel happy to be where I am, who I am, and doing what I'm doing.

Rosebud

Did you know there's a town in Montana called Rosebud? I didn't until this week. Charlee, Theresa, and I headed over there yesterday to cheer on one of Charlee's younger sisters while she played basketball. Rosebud is a "blink and you miss it" kind of town. It had a teeny-tiny post office with two regular parking spaces and two handicap parking spaces. The largest building in town was definitely the school where we watched the game. It's located near Colstrip and and Forsyth and boasts less than 3000 people living there. I would never want to live there. Western, MT really is much prettier than Eastern.

New Years Resolutions

I became a bit frustrated with the fact that I've already broken pretty much every single New Years Resolution I set for myself, so I've decided to put them in print and organize them into more achievable goals. I hope to make each goal have real personal significance for my spiritual growth and well being this year. Each goal I set, I keep (that's my positive affirmation to myself). I've established three categories for my goals, going from general, to yearly, to more specific daily goals. First, who I want to BE. Underneath the BE I have to set goals for how I want to LIVE. Finally, the essential part of living is STRIVING DAILY or CONSTANTLY to meet personal expectations and goals.

BE: Worthy to be called a Righteous and Beloved Daughter of God
  LIVE BY: Meeting with the Relief Society Presidency and Bishop, to support and strengthen the sisters in the Relief Society
    EVERY OTHER WEEK
  LIVE BY: Studying the scriptures, lesson, leadership manuals provided by the church to strengthen and support individuals in their church responsibilities.
    DAILY: Study The Scriptures
    WEEKLY: Choose a topic and study it
  LIVE BY: Writing in my personal Journal
    DAILY: Write
  LIVE BY: Talking to all my family regularly
    DAILY: Pray for the members of my family
    WEEKLY: Blog
    MONTHLY: Talk to all the members of my immediate family

BE: Compassionate and Charitable
  LIVE BY: Visiting Teaching
    MONTHLY: Teach
  LIVE BY: Taking the time to stop and talk
    WEEKLY: Spend time before Relief Society talking with the sisters
  LIVE BY: Taking the time to get to know others
    DAILY: Meet one new person, or learn one new thing about someone you know

BE: Diligent in keeping all of God's Commandments
  LIVE BY: Attending the Temple
    WEEKLY
  LIVE BY: Studying the Scriptures and Writing in My Journal
    DAILY
  LIVE BY: Filling my idle time with worthy, meaningful endeavors
    WEEKLY: Work on a craft or service project

BE: In constant communication with my Heavenly Father
  LIVE BY: Praying to my Heavenly Father morning, mealtimes, nights, and whenever else needed
    DAILY
  LIVE BY: Sincerely completing a full fast
    MONTHLY

BE: Healthy & Strong physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually
  LIVE BY: Developing a Weight Loss Plan
    DAILY: Chart my progress
    WEEKLY: Report my progress
  LIVE BY: Losing 65 lbs
    DAILY: Eat nutrient dense foods for breakfast, lunch, and dinner
    DAILY: Cook/Prepare meals
    WEEKLY: Plan a menu and shop accordingly
  LIVE BY: Confiding my joys, sorrows, successes, and weaknesses to family and friends
    DAILY: Talk with friends or family
  LIVE BY: Reading one article from a professional journal
    MONTHLY
  LIVE BY: Reading educational literature
    WEEKLY

I have a whole list of "don't", but they're more personal and not as positive, so I won't be sharing them. I'll just finish by adding that I have faith and I am hopeful that as I fill my life with this good long list of expectations, the DON'T list will take care of itself.

Swim Buddies

One of the great things about my move to Billings, is the swimming pool in my apartment complex. The most fun we had was when Sara would join us, though. I've never known anyone as entertaining in a Pool as Sara. One evening when the gang was over for a swim (fortunately there are no photos to document how I currently look in a swimsuit), someone showed up with fake mustaches. Here's the evidence:

Strike a Pose!

Someday Sara will be a famous actress 

and I'll be able to say...."I knew her when."

Fourth of July and Other Summer Fun

I've only been to Yellowstone National Park once before, so it was fun to spend the day there. What I realized about the park this time, though, is that you really can't see it all in one day. We spent most of the day in the car, so I'm glad that we could still take in the beautiful scenery, even if it was behind glass for a good portion of it. What we saw of it out of the car was great, though. We ate lunch in Cooke City, Charlee and Theresa got shirts that were misspelled "Cookie" City, went hiking around a body of water (I can't in good conscience call it a lake, but it was definitely larger than a pond), rolled the windows down as we drove slowly through a herd of buffalo (I think Trish actually touched or almost touched one), headed to Ol' Faithful and witnessed the explosion, drove around Yellowstone Lake (definitely deserving of the Lake title, SO impressive), and traveled back to Billings in time to pick up friends and see the Laurel City Fireworks Display. 

Trish, Kristy, & Charlee with quite a view!

Now we know what causes earthquakes

 Theresa, our photojournalist of the day, takes advantage of an old telephone booth

Trish's daring attempt to make friends with the buffalo (yes, she did freak me out a little bit!)

Yellowstone Lake with Trish & Charlee...our last stop in the park.

What Do You Do in 65 Degree Weather in January in MT?

POST PICTURES OF SUMMER

Last Summer was so much fun, that I didn't take time to take pictures. Thanks to my friends with cameras and facebook, I can steal a few pictures and place them here.

Theresa, Charlee, and I had a delightful adventure traveling to the October General Conference. We lost our way and went two hours out of our way, but safely made it to my Auntie's house! We listened to the Saturday morning conference on the grounds a temple square near the Tabernacle, and then enjoyed great seats near the front of the Conference Center in the afternoon. Our adventures included at this point: eating at a restaurant who brought the food at snail's pace and charged three times as much as it was worth, then receiving a meal that wasn't cooked all the way through (Theresa), trying to run in high heels, because we worried about being late, eating yummy Chinese food afterwords, limping (me, in shoes that chaffed) around the shopping mall and discovering that there was absolutely nothing worth buying there, and at last enjoying the Deseret Book Store that had things we actually wanted to purchase, spending way to much time...and possibly way too much money there, and traveling back to Springville late that evening.

Sunday morning was fun at Aunt C's place. I made waffles and we all piled into the family room and watched Conference in a much more relaxed state of being. The Charlee's car had an unfortunate glitch, with the check engine light coming on, but fortunately for us Uncle D had a engine light checker/reading-thing-a-ma-bob, and we were able to figure out that it wasn't anything alarming and we could still make it safely back to MT. This time, we traveled the right direction, enjoyed General Conference on the radio, and returned well entertained (mostly by our hilarious selves) and spiritually fed. There's nothing quite like General Conference at the Conference Center.


We couldn't have asked for a nicer day to listen to Conference outdoors.

Saturday Afternoon Session...I'm pretty sure the Apostles were waving right at me :)

Our Evening at the temple was snap decision detour, and really wonderful (except for my aching feet).

There's no better way to travel than with to fun, funny, fantastic friends. We're already making plans for our next Summer's adventures.