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Showing posts with label church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church. Show all posts

5.17.2015

Photo Dump.

It is about that time for a photo dump blog post! 
Here are some of the things that have been happening lately:

My friend Jenny & I had way too much fun throwing our lovely Lindsey Turnbough a surprise baby shower one night for YW's. She's never been legit-ly surprised before so we felt prettty good about it!


One of the highlights was a contest to see who could chug apple juice from a bottle the fastest. 




I love, love serving the youth but one of the major pluses is getting to know these fine ladies and growing together as a presidency as we serve. They are too much fun. 


Shaun and I drove to Captiva the other week for a sunset while scarfing our faces with Orange Crunch cake from The Bubble Room. If you haven't been, GO! If you have been, GO AGAIN! So delicious and just perfect to share.






Now back to my hilariously fun calling. I am 2 parts first counselor--1 part personal progress leader. So that means I get the pleasure of getting mad at my favorite little girls when they don't do their personal progress, and get humiliated when they do! Last October I challenged the girls to do a certain number of personal progress and if they made their goal, they got to throw a pie in my face, the YW president's face, and our lovely bishopric's face {my bishopric ROCK!} So many girls were so close! But three girls succeeded my expectations and got to throughly enjoy throwing those pies.

YOU SEE THAT WHIP CREAM IN THE HAIR?! The hair was not the agreement. Revenge was taken later...






Performed a lip-sync at the ward talent show. Nailed it.

One of mine and Shaun's favorite things is being friends with our friends' kids. Sometimes we pick them up just to hang out with them instead of their parents. Which results in getting invited to their cute little birthday parties.  



I think I have taken a picture exactly like this with each one of my friend's littles. I always say "Quick, raise your hands up in the air!" and I usually get either of these 3 responses: 1) Why?  2) We're not on a ride  3) Weeeeee!  (Caro I think their's was #3 if I remember right haha)


SJ has FINALLY found an improv group that is clean enough/not super goofy punny. It was so good to see him up on stage again. Believe it or not, it's where he is the most comfortable (which I will never understand). He even teaches a youth class at the theatre they perform at which has been fun for him. I made him teach the youth of our ward a few weeks back and it was HILARIOUS. I wish I would have taken video.
   


Speaking of SJ, he is one of my biggest cheerleaders in my life! It seems like ever since our initial move to Georgia, I haven't been super on top of my game when it comes to self confidence. Mostly in my abilities to take big projects on whether it be performing musically, starting a small photog biz etc. I have seen it most recently with photography. Most people are lucky and can practice all day everyday on their cute kids. But me? I get a cute husband to practice on. If the roles were reversed I would be tired of it by week 2...heck maybe even day 2! But not Shaun! This was when I asked him to lay down on a pillow by some natural light in preparation for a newborn shoot. Only SJ would lay down, wave his arms around and whimper like a baby ;) 



And to close, one last SJ thing. Last year we became super close with one of the sister missionaries that was serving in our ward. She has since completed her mission and is back to real life (yay!). While being in our home so often, she got to see a lot of Shaun's comedian side including his different characters that he would do. Her favorite, and I think everybody's favorite, is LaShaundra. She's based off a crazy lady that he met years ago at a run down hotel in Las Vegas. Well, it was that sister missionaries birthday the other day so LaShaundra came and celebrated with us...


1.27.2015

"USE IT OR LOSE IT"

That is something I had always heard from people. Including my piano teachers and my mother. I never believed a word of it. I was talented, I knew how to play, I even had piano students. Then I graduated high school and college happened and what do you know... MY TALENT IS GONE. I have so enjoyed being able to get back into the groove of things by learning a hymn every now and then. Although when asked to be one of the ward pianists, I panicked. I have always been the soloist: my own timing, a ritardando or two thrown in where I please, adding notes or chords whenever I want etc. Accompanying singers is so much pressure and a whole different ballpark. BUT. . .

I am lucky. I am lucky that I get to share this calling with my husband. Shaun is the ward chorister. He keeps me calm each Sunday that I'm up to bat (it's seriously like clock work. i am always having a nervous urge to run to the restroom right as i am needed to go up and play. tmi?). He has taught me a lot about timing, when to come in, how to follow him with those darn fermatas and guess what? We're still a train wreck and I love every second of it. It's my entertainment each week. We always end up laughing our way through the closing prayers. Thankfully we are behind a giant piano so nobody see's Shaun's mouth say "what was THAT?!" and me laugh till I cry. Last week I played the introduction with some crazy notes thrown in so I just decided to stop the intro and start playing the hymn, which resulted in Shaun doing a crazy arm-seizure situation and a wide eyed look (only a few came up to us and said they noticed that one). Long story short, if I have to accompany people, I am glad that Shaun is my right hand man in the matter. Plus he's cute...DUH!









9.11.2014

Young Women Presidency

Well I'm back in my element.
Not to say I didn't adore every last one of my sunbeams, because I sure did.
I cried my last sunday driving home {which was a surprise to me}!
I am the 2nd counselor in the YW presidency and get to be with these lovely 
ladies every Sunday and I couldn't be happier. 
The youth of the church are so amazing. Their strength inspires me.
The church is true and I'm grateful for the feeling it gives me.


9.01.2014

The House of the Lord

SJ and I have really been putting effort into going to the temple. We have had a lot of family home evening's dedicated to making the temple a bigger part of our lives. I have really enjoyed our experiences with it so far. I can't believe how much literature there is out there to read about the temple. I'm so grateful for prophets and apostles that receive modern day revelation.
One of my favorite talks lately is a talk given by Elder Scott called:
TEMPLE WORSHIP: THE SOURCE OF STRENGTH AND POWER IN TIMES OF NEED



Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Temple {dedicated June 2014}




























It is a hefty chunk of time as far as driving goes (an hour and forty-five mins each way) but it has been fun to take that time to chat or review our temple goals. There is something special about temples out in the mission field. Especially out in Florida. Just knowing what went into getting this new temple in the Ft Lauderdale area is inspiring. Having to call and make an appointment because of how small and intimate the sessions are. (I mean there was nobody there to take our picture together for heavens sake!) It makes the temple experience a lot more personal. I'm grateful for the temple and the peace it gives you in this crazy life.


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