First Camping Trip!!

We have been married and living in Idaho for three and a half months.  Which leads me to my next statement, that it is a shame that we have not done any camping yet!!  Friday night we remedied that.  It was the Olpin Reunion!  We couldn't go down on Thursday due to our work schedules, but we went bright and early Friday morning.  It was fun to introduce Brock to all of my relatives.  We taught him how to play rook and he had a clean sweep and a double nellow in his first game!  I was proud.  The good news, is I don't think he'll put up to much of a fight to go next year. :D

First Father's Day Gift

He's Baaaaaaaaaaack!!!

Well ladies and gents, the brotha is home!!  His flight was scheduled to come in at 8:45 pm.  I got off of work in Idaho Falls at 5:00 and we buzzed off from there.  We got a call about 7:30 saying it had been delayed until 10:55 so that eased some of the pressure of the drive.  When we got to Murray, we were informed that his flight had been delayed yet again and he was scheduled to come in at 12:25 am!  So it was a late night, but totally worth it!!

 Mom, Trav and Dad, reunited

Decorations

Kristi had a funny idea for us to all stick a

box of candy in his suit coat or 

backpack, wherever it would fit.

Random.

All of us at the airport minus Troy's fam, they

had to get home once they said hi to him.

Little Brother and Me

Tradition!

He was so happy to sit on carpet.

And to walk on grass with no shoes.

Troy's family and Vix with their signs

It honestly has been so fun having this little lad home.  We got to spend some some time the day after he got here.  We played games, talked, he met Brock, they get along great!  I have just loved being able to laugh and goof off with him again.  From fall of 2002 to fall of 2007 it was just me and him living at my parents house, all the others had moved out.  Because of this, we are very close and have a special bond. (At least I've always felt that way, he would hopefully say kind of the same thing, maybe that is just a big sister talking.)

Anyways, welcome home Buckwheat, I sure do love ya!!

Yummers

So we went to the festival in Idaho Falls on the 4th of July.  Brock dragged his feet and just wanted to stay home all day and relax, but I love the 4th!  I love parades, carnivals, fairs, rodeos, and especially fireworks!!  Supposedly, Idaho Falls has the best choreographed firework show west of the Mississippi.  Don't buy into that load of crock.  It was a long show, just under 40 minutes.  But I don't call music playing the background choreographed.  Choreographed is Stadium of Fire, or better yet, Disneyland!!  They also said traffic would be so bad it would take us at least 3 hours to get back to Rexburg.  50 minutes later, we were home. And that included the walk to the car.  I have a couple great buds from Idaho Falls and the area, but man, some people here need to get out and see the world.  And I'm only from Salt Lake!!!

Five bucks for this?  Yes please. 

Cheesy, But Fun!

Ok, so we walked past S'mores stuff at the store the other day and Brock was so excited, but I told him no. A few nights later we had a Relief Society activity with s'mores and there were tons of leftovers that they sent home so I hid them.

One of the families from my home ward gave us candlesticks/holders for our wedding for a "cake by candlelight" gift.  I switched it up and surprised Brock with this fun little date one night when we both got home from work one night.  S'mores by candlelight, with martinelli's cider of course. He was so surprised and it was just a fun night!

Wonder Woman!!

This is a belated post (shocker, I know).  But, I have to give a shout out to Wonder Woman, aka:  My mother!!  She is so awesome!!  On May 3rd she graduated  from the University of Utah (we just look past that part ;D) but she graduated with her master's degree in clinical nursing.  She did all of this while working full time  as the wound and skin care specialist for primary children's hospital and being in the relief society presidency in our ward.  Not to mention she was still the most awesome and supportive mother to six children and eight grandchildren that we could have ever asked for.  I am so proud of my mother, she is such an example to me and I just pray that I can be half as awesome of a woman as she is, I am proud to call her my mother and I am so thankful for everything she has ever done for me.

 Wonder Woman herself

 Mom and Me

Dad and Mom

She gave him her stole of gratitude.  I might have cried.

Wedding Day Sneak Peek

Welp, another month has gone by.  It has been an awesome month!!  Tomorrow marks the one month mark of our wedding!!  It was such an absolutely great day.  I don't think there is any way it could have gone better.  Well...the dress I wore to the temple and the luncheon shrunk apparently when I washed it to get out the wrinkles, so it was shorter than what is acceptable, but I didn't put it on til the morning of and there was no going back at that point, hahaha!!  But, seriously, the day was great.  We had so much support from all of our family and friends.  The ceremony was great.  My stomach growled in the middle and I made a loud sob, but most people didn't notice.

The luncheon was delicious and looked great, a huge thanks to my in-laws for putting it all together!

The reception was a blast!  So many people came to support.  I loved seeing so many old friends and great family, that was easily one of my favorite parts of the day, was just seeing so many people that I love.  The reception center looked great, I'll load those pics when I get them, as for now, it was such a great day, I love being married to Brock, we love our little home that we have made, and we have been so greatly blessed throughout the whole process.  Stay tuned for many more blog posts to come, the wheels in my head have been turning like crazy with post ideas the last couple weeks. :D

Meanwhile, enjoy this little sneak peek of our big day, April 7, 2012.

Women's Conference Thoughts

I love relief society. I attended my home ward  for a few months before the wedding and it is so good to be back. Being in their relief society made me miss my provo relief society so much!! So many of us have gone different directions but we all stay united through the organization of relief society.  I am now in a new ward and a new relief society, and it will be every bit as great.

Last weekend, I was blessed with the great opportunity to attend Women's Conference at BYU for my first time.  Melinda was on the board and she drafted Alisa and Rachel T to speak as well as their cousin Kori.  They all did a great job speaking and I learned a ton.

The thing that was most impressive to me was just how many women were there and how it was only a fraction of the entire church-wide relief society.  There was service being done left and right, literally, throughout the whole thing with a huge service project on Thursday night for everybody.  It was amazing to see all these sisters and to know that we are all united in the common cause of relief society.

It made me reflect a lot on the process of me adjusting from young women's to relief society.  When I first moved to provo, I didn't love RS.  It was ok, but it was 3rd hour and I was always so fidgety by that point and didn't have the brain power to stay focused on a lesson rather than talks.  Then the following year, I was called to be a counselor.  At that point, I liked it a little more, but I still didn't really understand the full purpose of it.  I was called again as a counselor under a different president about a year later, but the president counted down the weeks and days to being released which again, made it hard to really understand relief society.  I enjoyed serving, but didn't really understand.  And then I got called to be the RS President.  At which point, I immediately loved RS because I served in it day in and day out.  I had to study about each of the positions in the organization and the work of visiting teaching.  And I realized, every calling, from teacher, to literacy committee, to friendship committee, including visiting teaching, is absolutely crucial to relief society.  I learned that the President cannot do everything.  I couldn't talk to every sister and know every problem that every body was facing, I needed reports from all the visiting teachers.  I gained such a deep love for each of the sisters that I served and served with.

Every ward I attend, I can feel the spirit of relief society, knowing that we are sisters in Zion, committed to a true cause.  We are all blessed by this great organization in one way or another.  Women's Conference truly held the spirit of relief society and was such a great reminder of all that I am capable of as a daughter of God.

This song was sung and although it is sung frequently, it always get choked up when I hear it and try to sing along.  The words are so true.

As sisters in Zion, we'll all work together;
The blessings of God on our labors we'll seek.
We'll build up his kingdom with earnest endeavor;
We'll comfort the weary and strengthen the weak.

The errand of angels is given to women;
And this is a gift that as sisters, we claim:
To do whatsoever is gentle and human,
To cheer and to bless in humanity's name.

How vast is our purpose, how broad is our mission,
If we but fulfill it in spirit and deed.
Oh naught but the Spirit's divinest tuition
Can give us the wisdom to truly succeed.