Europe!

Wll, it actually happened. I went to Europe. Crazy. But it was incredibly awesome. Sadly, I am slow at posting pictures and anything about it. It could take a while to really get many details, so I'll start by just posting a bit of an overview!

First, we went to Paris, France. Then on to Munich, Germany where we were able to see some of the surrounding country as well. Next came Salzburg, Austria and then on to Switzerland. Last but not least - Italy!

Notre DameThe Louvre
Eiffel Tower
Munich, Germany
New Town Hall - Munich, Germany
Dachau Concentration Camp
The crematorium at Dachau
Hohenschwangau Castle - Schwangau, Germany

Neuschwanstein Castle - Schwangau, GermanyAustria - a little famous house there :) The Gazebo - Salzburg, Austria

Mirabel Gardens - Salzburg, AustriaHallstatt, Austria Hallstatt, Austria
Swiss Temple

Bern, SwitzerlandBern, Switzerland

A cool little castle in Switzerland - with a real moat! Venice, ItalyGrand Canal - Venice, Italy
Rialto Bridge - Venice, Italy

Grand Canal - Venice, Italy

St. Mark's Basilica - Venice, Italy

Il Duomo - Florence, Italy

Baptistery doors - Florence, Italy

Ponte Vecchio - Florence, Italy

Florence skylineThe Colosseum - Rome, Italy

Roman Forum

The Pantheon - Rome

Trevi Fountain - RomeSt. Peter's Basilica - Vatican City

Presidents Day

Considering that it's cool enough to get to take work off, I figured President's day is one holiday that maybe I should stop and think about a little more in depth. I think it's one of those holidays that too often passes us by. I'll admit that I think about it just a little bit in that we're celebrating George Washington's and Abraham Lincoln's birthdays. I've always felt a little bit special that I share a birthday with George. So I do remember. :) But I've just been sitting here thinking, what makes it so that the birthdays of these two men are the most remembered out of more than 40 different presidents of our nation? I think most people would be quick to answer about what great leaders they were and what they did for our country, each in their own time. I would agree. But what made them that way?

These two men have long been on the list of my heroes and people that I admire and respect deeply. I truly believe that a large part of what made them so great was their humility and their conviction that they were simply instruments in the hands of an Almighty God. And believing that, they went and did what they needed to do. They acted on their beliefs and they stood up for what they knew to be right. Here are a few quotes that I feel show a little bit of the kind of men that they were:

"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency."- George Washington

"I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government; to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow citizens of the United States at large; and, particularly, for their brethren who have served in the Geld; and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacifick temper of the mind, which were the characteristicks of the divine Author of our blessed religion ; without an humble imitation of whose example, in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation." - George Washington

"I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of the Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell." - Abraham Lincoln

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!" - Abraham Lincoln I wish I could put so many more, because there are so many great things! My gratitude has increased as I've researched and read more about these two great leaders of our nation. I would encourage anyone to read more and learn more about these men for yourselves and come to understand why they deserve our admiration and appreciation for what they did for us.

Making Dream Come True

And although it would probably apply, I'm not talking about Disneyland. After years of dreaming and years of saving, I'm finally making it happen. I'm going to Italy! And since I'll be there, I'm going to see some other parts of Europe as well! Dates have been set and tickets have been purchased. It is official.So of course I wanted to share the good news. I know quite a few people knew I was really hoping on going this year, but it's a done deal now. We will fly into Paris, France and do a whirlwind tour of the city before heading out to Munich, Germany. See some cool things there, including Neuschwanstein Castle (okay, it's not technically in Munich, but close) and then head to Salzburg, Austria. Sound of Music tour here we come! Not to mention Mozart's hometown. From Austria we'll go to Switzerland and spend a couple days there. We will go to the temple in Bern and try to see other things as well, although it's not completely nailed down there. Then down to Italy to Venice, Florence, and then Rome. I am pretty darn excited for this trip and hope everything pulls together. So if any of you have thoughts on the better things to see, or know people over there or other helpful insights, feel free to let me know!

Lillie turns 1

This week my niece Lillie turned 1 and of course we had to celebrate! So here are some pictures so you can enjoy her cuteness as well.

The Cake

Yay! It's my birthday!

Mmmm. I think I like it.

Yup! That's some gooooood stuff!

Woa. I think I got my fill. (Someone was getting a little sleepy.:)

And then of course..... presents!! (Thank goodness for that sugar boost for more energy!)

Christmas Catch-Up

Christmas was great and very fun for all of us to be home together for at least a couple of hours. While I didn't get lots of pictures, here are a few pictures of the fun festivities. :)

What's a get-together without trying to get a family picture!

Some of our pageantry kiddos. :)

Our loverly angels. :) (Jeff was a really good sport!)

Two of our cute babies all Christmasy - Lillie and Claire

And Christmas much have Santa and elves and reindeer. (Also known as Santa et. al)

Busy Saturday

Whew. Yesterday was busy! But a very good day. Lots of fun and exciting things. And probably the least of it was that BYU is playing good football again. :)

Well first, my nephew Jeff earned his Eagle Scout award, so we got to go to his court of honor and see him receive that award. Here he is!

And second, Brian and Emily had their baby today! She was born very early Saturday morning. No name picked out yet, but she's a cutie!

Standardized Testing - Valid??

Okay, so we all go through lots of standardized testing throughout school right? It's out favorite thing! SAT or ACT and the "pre" tests through 5th and 8th and 10th grades. It's just the joy of our existence really. I'm led to question again what exactly that testing does for us. Maybe I'm totally way off base, but it seems that part of the reason for it is to show in what areas you have strengths and to predict future career choices, etc. Am I totally wrong in thinking that's part of the reason for it? You know, besides competing with your friends about who has the best score of course. Cause it's totally the basis by which all intelligence is measured! But I digress.

Now here's the reason I'm pondering on this subject tonight - I'm going through my old scrapbooks and scanning in my pictures and other memorabilia to be able to have electronic copies of them because that's the thing to do now-a-days right? Well, I just came across my "SAT" from 8th Grade. One of those pre-testing things where they're trying to prepare you for the 'real thing' or make you feel smart of stupid or something. And I'm looking through my scores and laughing. I will admit, I got some pretty decent scores. In fact, all but one of them were in the 'above average' range. (I only say this to help make my point.) My one score that was not in the above average range was in the category of.............................................Listening.

This gives me cause to reflect on my chosen career choice. And I think, hmmmmm.....either the testing maybe doesn't do all that it says it does, or I totally chose the wrong career and I'm horrible at my job and should probably throw away those two degrees and start over. Deliberating....deliberating....

A jumble of thoughts

I've had many occurrences in the last few months that have led me to ponder. I tried to blog about one of them after it happened, but try as I might, I couldn't express the thoughts and the feelings that I was experiencing at that time. Since then, I've had other instances happen again and again that have made me wonder repeatedly if I'm living my life the way I really want to be living. And by that, I think I mean "Am I living so that I will have no regrets?"

At a training I went to in September, we discussed value wheels and filled out what was most important to us (or so we thought) and then how much time we spent in each different area of our life. It was interesting to see what did or did not match up from what I believe are the most important things in my life and where I spend my time.

Then at another conference a couple weeks ago, we heard a presentation on "Get Up Out of Your Seat". I wish you all could have been there. It was deeply moving and inspiring. By Get Up Out of Your Seat, the speaker talked about how too often we sit back and basically let life pass us by. Whether from wrong priorities or thinking that someone else will do what needs to be done. We need to be up and doing and looking for opportunities to bless the lives of those around us. He stated it well when he said, "The journey is not about you. It's about those you come in contact with". He also talked about how you never know how much time you have. I think this was brought back in force again at work today when my co-workers niece was hit by a truck and is not expected to live due to the extent of injuries. And I thought, "What if this was one of my nieces or nephews or good friend or family member? Would I be caught in that moment saying 'I wish I would have....?'" I hope that never happens.

So I'm trying to make a goal. I hope that I don't forget it soon. That happens far too often. I'm going to start trying to live each day on purpose. I'm going to try to put people first. I'm going to try to make a difference. I have seen opportunities to do something around me. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father has pointed some of those out to me a couple of times because I might have missed it. So now I'm working on those things. And I'm going to try to be aware of others.

I know my thoughts are probably a jumbled mess, but I hope that something made sense. I think I wanted to share this to make more sense of it in my own mind and to further commit myself to the changes that I want to make. Feel free to join me. I think we could all find one thing each day to better help someone around us or to show our love. Quite often, the best thing we can actually give anyone is our time. Maybe we can watch a little less tv or spend a minute less on the computer (I know, I'm on it right now!) and instead call someone to just let them know that we're thinking about them or appreciate something they did. It could even be something as little as letting the dishes sit for a minute so that you can spend that one extra minute giving a hug to each of your children. Or let your spouse or friend tell you about their day. I can't help but notice everyday what a difference a little more love would make in this world. And besides, we're starting into the holiday season so there's no better time, right?? :) I know that I've been very grateful lately for many many things, and I'm going to try to show that gratitude by doing what I can to help someone, somewhere. Lets go get up out of our seats.

A Few Fall Pics...

Well, at this moment I have to admit that Utah is not as vibrant as the colors were last year. My roommate keeps trying to say that it's not 'fully fall' quite yet, so we'll see if there's more to come. But super vibrant or not, it's always beautiful. So here are a few of the pics I've taken of the beautiful nature around us.

Another Year

Is it a little bit funny that although I've been out of school for a couple years, there is the part of me that still meaures years as if they begin the end of August/start of September? Look what they ingrain in us through our early years. They also ingrain in us that we should have a few months of summer break. That's a rough reality when you grow up and realize that most adults don't actually get that. I'm slightly bitter still. But I digress.

As it has been two years since I finished school, I did hit a pretty big milestone - work wise. I finished up the hours and other things required for me to get my LCSW. That's a licensed clinical social worker. Previously, I was just a CSW, or certified social worker. It's kind of made me laugh as I've realized that hardly anyone really knows what I mean when I say, "I got my L!" But they act excited with me anyway. :) I guess I really do understand. I really didn't know anything about the licenses involved until I actually got into the field. So if you are reading this and saying, what is that? Feel free to ask. So here's my name plate at work. I had some friends a couple years ago that thought I was pretty cool because I had 3 letters after my name. Now I have 4. :)

Another favorite part of school starting/fall is that football starts. I realized the other day that I really miss the good ol' days when the thing to do every Friday was to go to the football games for the local high school. It was all of my growing up because my dad taught at the high school. There's just something so great about enjoying the outdoors, enjoying some games, building that sense of community... Ahhhh. Well, this year, my oldest nephew Jeff is now in high school. First of all, yes, the immediate reaction is "What the....?" How is he that old? I don't know. But he is playing football (and is actually really quite good if I can whisper that out there) and I got to go down to his first game this week. What fun! He's the quarterback for the freshmen team. Hopefully I'll get to go to others. But I was able to get a few pictures for those of you that missed out.

So everyone, I hope that you too get to enjoy some good football this season. I'm looking forward to it. Happy new (school) year! :)