Sometimes, I have Thoughts

First off, Happy Birthday to my Deacon, he turned 8 today, I'm excited to see him be baptized and receive the amazing gift of the Holy Ghost.

I was going to find a picture with him and me, but this one was too good to pass up. Love him.

Now, in my family upon the day of our birth get to choose who says the family bedtime prayer. Deacon chose me and as I knelt with my family I thought of something shared with me. I don't remember if it was in a class or what, but they said something to the effect of, when we are asked to pray we need to remember and cherish how amazing it is that we get the privilege of being the mouthpiece for our family to our Father in Heaven. Pretty awesome to think about it that way, I'd say, but since I heard that I've been doing my best to remember these great opportunities. It's really a cool experience to pray with that in mind.

Another thought I've been mulling for awhile. "Not my will, but Thine, be done." Luke 22:42 As He prayed to the Father in the garden of Gethsemane, my Savior spoke these words when He knew He was about to take upon Himself all the sins of the world. He knew how much pain and sorrow He was about to endure. He bled from every pore for every single sin, every stupid thing ever done by man, every guilty feeling, every time someone cursed HIS name! He felt all of those ALONG WITH the pain, the sadness, the heartache, the sting of a loved one gone too early. ALL OF IT!!!! Now, like I said, He knew what was coming, He asked His Father, "If thou be willing, remove this cup from me" but ended it in that powerful phrase, not my will, but thine, be done. My thoughts are this, why is it we have something we think we can't bear and it is soooo hard for us to say Thy will be done, Father. Thou knows best and will only give me what I can handle. Such a hard concept for us! Turn it over to the Father! He will help you get through anything and will not give you more than you are able to bear.

Also, quick disclaimer, I did say my Savior. I know He is the Savior of the world without a shadow of a doubt and am excited to preach His restored Gospel for the next 18 months. I just also know the Atonement is very personal and He is also MY Savior.

One last thing, I leave precisely six weeks from today. SIX short weeks! I'm geekin' out! Soooo excited!!!

Oh Baby I'm in Love

I know, I know, it's not the hateful holiday just yet. Not that I have anything against it except when I work in floral and get to watch all the nice boyfriends buy flowers. Yuck:) but seeing as I work in a grocery store and we've had our candy display up since right after Christmas you'll have to bear with me. The candies above are my absolute favorite ever! I sent a poor missionary an entire package full of them because I didn't know his favorite candy so I sent him mine... Unfortunate elder wasn't even all that fond of them. Oh well ha I made the mistake of buying one today... With a chocolate milk which I am slightly in love with at the moment... So unhealthy, I did however share one with my little brother Deacon. I'm pretty sure I'll buy a king size one of these bad boys at least twice a week until they're gone... I will share one of them with a sibling, but if I've got a little spare tire going on, come February 14th, you'll all know why and I won't be the least bit ashamed.

Picture Catch Up

Yep, I'm posting again today, but hey, you're all excited for some pictures right?? And I promise there will be fewer words in this post than normal posts ha

This was supposed to be at the bottom, but blogger hates inept users like me.

Parentals

Grandparentals

Whoops chose the one of him talking. Oh well:)

Grandpa Bishop

Twenty-11

It's a new year! Yes, it's five days in, but hey that's better than five months in.

Things I loved about 2010:

• I decided to go on a mission.
• I got cold feet and freaked out about going on a mission for about 4 months.
• I sucked it up and started working on papers.
• Golden turned in his papers and made me so jealous about going. He is my inspiration for going.
• I received my endowments. I love love love going to the temple and it was awesome going through on the same day as Golden.
• Got my call to Uruguay, Montevideo!
• Dropped Golden off at the MTC and realized I still had two and a half MONTHS to wait!
• I wrote in my journal every single day from October to December! This is a huge accomplishment for me, I rarely keep a journal more than a couple days consecutively.
• Made awesome birthday gifts for my mom and Golden an awesome Christmas present.

I'm so excited for 2011!! It's going to be such an awesome year! I'm sure I'll have my ups and downs, but I have so many things to look forward to! Namely:

• Teaching Gospel Doctrine, that's right, this girl got called to teach once a month. Yikes! I'm really nervous about it. I have to teach a week from Sunday, hopefully all goes well..
• Spending tons of time with my family before I leave.
• Finishing the Book of Mormon twice before March. I'm working hard for this one, but the Lord is definitely helping me by giving me times when I have nothing else I can do besides read so it's good.
• Attending the temple as much as possible and learning from the amazing Spirit there.
• Oh and of course leaving for Uruguay! I've heard it's about a 20 hour flight which I'm actually really excited about. I love airports and flying.. Weird, I know.
• Going to the MTC in Argentina!
• Learning Spanish.
• Learning how to teach effectively so when I meet amazing people in Uruguay I can tell them the amazing message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
• I'm soooo so so excited to serve my Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ! I'm excited to tell people about the Book of Mormon and hopefully convert more than just myself, with the Spirit of course... Ok so I'll just be the instrument so the Spirit can do all the converting, but hey, I get to be the tool! Exciting!

So with all my long-winded ways, here's to hoping 2011 is an amazing year!

You May Fool Me and I'll Fall, But I Won't Stay Down Long

I. Am. Country Strong.

I'm so excited for this movie! I can't even begin to tell you how much I'm looking forward to it.

It combines so many of my favorite things:

~Country music

~Gwyneth Paltrow, I really think she's one of my all-time favorite actresses... Actors? Is that the apparently "politically correct" term now? And she sings!

~Drama, hate it in my own life, but boy do I enjoy watching it sometimes:)

~A cute boy who sings and tries to help the damsel in distress.

~There's also some Tim McGraw acting going on that I'm surprisingly becoming more and more ok with.

It also reminds me of this movie that I adored as a child,

Pure Country. I love me some George Strait and someday I will

marry me some George Jr. but only if he sings to me after we're married in the temple. Anyone who finds this for me on DVD and I'll marry you instead of George. Unless you're a girl and then we'll just be best friends forever and watch it together.

And last, but certainly not least, I want a red dress like this to wear with cowboy boots! Anyone know where I can find one? And by a show of hands, who thinks I could pull it off?

Wordy Girl

Sometimes I read other people's blogs and am jealous of their use of pictures.... I was thinking about this the other day at work and I realized something... I love words... I know that seems weird, but I do, I love them... I love the way they look on paper or even on a screen. I always notice handwriting, probably because I'm severely lacking in the nice or cute or neat handwriting departments. I love hearing people talk and use big words. I thoroughly enjoy using big words whenever I get the chance. I don't even care if it makes me sound smart, I just like using them. I love listening to people's tones and the syllables they stress. I think that's the strangest part of my obsession..... When I quote movies I try to get the voice and tone down perfect... Weird... I also really like a well used play on words. I can't think of any appropriate ones right now, of course, since that would be silly.... Now when I say appropriate I don't mean I'm being totally perverted... I just live with 3 young boys and a girl who has the sense of humor of a boy. I have potty jokes coming out my ears tonight... So in all my thinking about this random stuff, I've decided, along with being a ballerina in Ballet West's The Nutcracker, a professional wielder of a grinder, and Pepper Potts, when I grow up I shall be a linguist! Yes! That is all...

Lots to say today! First things first, the day that has been so highly anticipated for 19 years and insanely so, the past 11 weeks, finally came! We kicked Golden to the curb, almost literally, at precisely 12:15 PM and as Shadow pointed out, the date matched. It was bittersweet, there were tears and smiles and hugs and I think a little denial... It still hasn't hit me, I'm sure it will as soon as I need to vent about some jerk guy and Golden's not there to listen. He tends to be the only one who can put up with my ceaseless rants. He's going to be an amazing missionary though! He's one of the most friendly people I've ever met and he has the best personality. Now the bad news of the day is I couldn't find my blasted camera! Never fear though, the dad's was in working order so we used his. Only downside is, the memory card is a really random one and we can't find the cord so I'll post pictures as soon as I figure a way to magically get them on my computer.

I was also a tiny bit mopey just for the fact that I'm sooooo jealous! I want to be in his shoes! Almost literally since sister missionary shoes are about the same as elder's but worn with skirts. I still have precisely 77 days to wait. Yes, we counted on the way home so my mom knew how long she had to prepare for sending another.

I'd also like all you readers to watch this and then come on back and we'll discuss. I came across this little gem a few weeks ago while stalking the beautiful Jammie's blog. I had quite the giggle while sitting alone in my room one night, until I realized.... My mom totally used to do that! Sadly as a child, I was deprived of ever seeing the video since Rocky and I shamelessly mocked her so she'd lock us out of her room. Then it into turned into a full-fledged laughing fit... Now, every time my mom and I go to the temple at least 6 people comment on how we look more like sisters than mother and daughter. She, of course, reminded me of this fact as I made fun of her for "The Lion" and pointed out that there might be a little something to it... Interesting, but I shall still mock and show it to Rocky and Golden so they can join.

The temple workers and their complimentary ways brings me to my next point. After leaving the temple my mother is somewhat pleased with herself and her young ways. It gets old real quick. Then I realized today.... I'm an extremely cocky person... But only in my head... And to certain privileged, or not so much, people. It's only a matter of time until it starts coming out of my mouth to everyone. Yikes! For the most part though, I am still too insecure to actually be that way. Let's hope the mish humbles me up and I don't ever get obnoxious.

Last, but certainly not least, there must be a tribute. To my papa! Oh how I adore that man! I woke up this morning to snow in all it's white, frigid, beautiful glory. Just as I was beginning to dread scraping the windows of the truck to run my errands before the drop off I remembered! My lovely father cleaned out the garage so the little black truck, lovingly dubbed, Rita, could fit in there. Yay! No scraping! Now, this seems like such a small thing, but my dad seriously does awesome stuff like this all the time! He's always thinking of things he can do to make people's lives easier. I've never met anyone so giving and serving as my dad. Stressed about work and money and other things and he will drop everything at the drop of a hat to help with anything.

Also, the stinking fonts keep being stupid so it looks the way it does because of my computer, not for lack of trying on my part. Dumb.