My Body Is A Temple

Out of all of the temples in the world, which is your favorite?

Washington, D.C. Temple

Timpanogos Temple (American Fork, UT)

From the East Coast to the West Coast, and all around the world, the temples of God look very different, but they are nonetheless stunning and beautiful. Out of all of the temples in the world, which temple is Heavenly Father's favorite? (I had one girl tell me Salt Lake City haha). The real answer, however, is yours. Your temple is Heavenly Father's favorite. He loves it so much that He sent His son to die for it. 

This is how I began our lesson and activity to teach our activity day girls that their temples are the most important. I'd set out 10 different temples for the girls to look at as we had our little discussion. If the girls have never heard that their bodies are temples, read 1 Cor. 6:19-20. I then hung another photo of a temple on the board that I found from kugalls.blogspot.co.uk:

I had the girls read the quote on the photo from Thomas S. Monson and then I reread it changing a few of the words so that they could see how the physical temples of God and our temples of flesh and bone are the same. "Your temple is more than flesh and bone.  You are filled with faith and fasting. You are built of trials and testimonies. You are sanctified (or saved) by sacrifice and service." We talked about how if our bodies are temples, then we should be taking the best care of them as possible. 

I had three girls prepare how to share how they keep one of the following three items:

1. Healthy Body (Exercise, Sleep, Playing Outside)
2. Healthy Mind (Doing Math, Reading, Reading Books)
3. Healthy Spirit (Reading the Scriptures, Going to Church, etc).

For our particular class, it was pretty energized and hard to teach all the aspects of this lesson so if you have an energetic class, I'd suggest either teaching about the temple or talking about keeping your body, mind, and spirit healthy and going into a little more depth on them. After the lesson, I had the whole class follow me outside for our activity...

A RELAY RACE!

The girls were all pretty stoked to get to do the relay race. We only had three segments, but they loved it and it was perfect timing! 

1. 4-legged race. The girls had been broken up into three teams of three so we had a four-legged race. I mapped out a course on a hill next to the church and had the girls run it as best they could and back. Very simple leg of the race to put together. Items needed: Cloth strips to wrap around their ankles
   
2. Egg walk. I forgot my eggs at home so we ended up using small pom pom balls, which I think made this leg of the race more challenging. The teams lined up at point A, each with a spoon between their lips. When I said "Go", the first member of each team started walking the course (touching pieces of tape high and low at certain occasions), spoon between their lips and the pom pom ball bouncing on the spoon. When the girls dropped the pom pom, we just let them pick it back up and put it back on their spoon. When they reached point B, they had to turn around and retrace their steps to pass the pom pom off to the next member of their team.
   
3. From the starting point of the last leg of the race, the girls all had to crab walk to the next section and line up single file in their teams. One member from each team would pick up their teams ball and try to shoot it into a bucket placed about 6 feet away from them on the ground. The first team member had to make the shot before the ball could be passed off to the next team member. Once all three team members had made the shot, they all had to run to the next point and do 10 jumping jacks, 10 push ups, and 10 crunchies. 

After we finished the race, we ate sliced Watermelon, which was a perfect treat for the hot day outside. When the girls had finished eating, they asked if we could do more relay races so we made some up on the spot to have them go do. It was a great way to focus on the "fitness" part of taking care of our bodies and to let them run off some of their energy!

Do you have any relay race idea winners? I'd love to hear about them in the comments below!!

Kim

Happy Memorial Day: A Flower For You

Living in Virginia makes it a bit tricky to visit our loved ones who have passed on this Memorial Day. Their sweet bodies lay resting back in Utah and sadly we aren't able to stop by, say hi, and leave a flower on their graves. So from a distance, here are our flowers of gratitude for Grandma and Grandpa Downs, and Grandpa Benson for the lessons they taught us, the love they gave to us, and the lives they lived.  

Grandpa Downs passed away in 2001 - I was 10 years old. I remember going over to Grandma and Grandpa's house often while mom visited. Grandpa always had his peppermint ribbon candy and bowls of brightly-colored licorice that he would share with us. I remember sitting on his lap and poking his nose, or squeezing it together. Each time Grandpa would make a silly sound -- a "boop", a "beep", a "bawp" -- and we'd erupt in laughter. Grandpa loved fishing and we used to go camping with them a lot. Sadly, I don't remember a lot of details about those adventures, but I remember him sitting and fishing and helping to teach us kids how too. Grandpa also loved to garden! He had the most beautiful, award-winning garden. I remember he would come over in the Spring and Summer to help mom plant her garden. He was an amazing Grandpa, and the first person close to me that I ever lost to death. I remember that even after he had moved on, he didn't feel far away. I remember sitting in my bed at night, crying, and thinking that he was still so close to me, that Heavenly Father wouldn't let him stay far away from his family.

Grandma Downs passed away on May 2, 2015 - I was 23 years old. My most vivid memories are the more recent memories I've made with her over the past few years, but I remember going to visit grandma and grandpa when I was little. While mom visited, Kristy and I would open up the toy closet and play with all of the random toys. My favorite was the marble track where you'd race marbles down one zig-zagging track to the floor. I remember one visit inparticular when mom was a little more set on what time we got to Grandma's, only to find out that we weren't just visiting but mom was taking us all out to get our flu shots. I absolutely hate needles and I remember feeling so sad that I'd been tricked to get mine done. I was really scared as we went in and so I cried (I probably was old enough not to cry). Grandma has teased me about it for years, even when we visited with her last fall before we moved to Virginia... I'll never live it down! I remember all of the parties grandma threw, even when it would have been so much easier to not have them. I remember the Thanksgiving and Christmas parties in her basement and I remember when our family started getting too big that you'd practically have to carve a way to the food table. I remember celebrating Easter in grandma's backyard every Easter Saturday where we'd have a BBQ with all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins. Grandma would make Jello Eggs which were my absolute favorite! I was always so excited, hoping she would make them. I remember camping and fishing with her and grandpa and seeing a deer while driving home in Grandpa's blue truck. I remember going over to help rake leaves and how the chore turned into so much fun jumping into them instead.  

         I remember when Grandma started to not do so well. Kristy and I went to visit with her while her kids had a family council. Grandma loved my purse so much and almost kept it as her own. I remember going over to visit grandma more and more at her home, at Orchard, and at Summerfield. I remember how blessed I felt to live in her home for the first year and a half of my marriage. It was such a sweet experience to live in my Grandma's home where she raised such amazing people in my family. I remember gardening in the same garden that my Grandpa used to tend to. I remember how supportive Grandma was coming to hear me sing in choir concerts, in church, and how she always loved when Justin and I would sing for her in her room at Summerfield. Grandma taught me so much about how to serve and how to do it with genuine love. She was such a talented, amazing woman of strength...and super, super funny! She was an amazing grandma and I'm grateful for every day I had her in my life. 

Grandpa Benson passed away in 2014. The stroke that put him in the hospital was completely unexpected and an event that strengthened the Benson family tenfold. I remember when I first met Grandpa Benson at Kirk and Kathy's home. He introduced himself to me as "Grandpa Blue Eyes" and Grandma Benson as "Grandma Hunny". I didn't know he was kidding so the next time I saw him I called him "Grandpa Blue Eyes" and it made him light up. Haha, I guess he was always trying to get people to call him that but no one ever did. Grandpa Benson was a talented man. He published Time Sensitive Journals, was diligent about sending special food for thought quotes and scriptures to every member of his family each day, and was a talented painter. I remember he showed Justin and I his work in the basement of his home in South Orem. The paintings were beautiful and so unique. He told us that he would paint us one for our wedding. This is the painting he gave to us:

He painted the waterfall where Justin proposed to me. His painting now hangs in our home, with the reminder of his love for his family with it. I remember when he dropped it off at our house, I had just returned home from work and saw him parked outside our house (Grandma Down's house) across the street. I went inside and through the window saw him walk to our porch. I waited for him to knock on the front door, but he didn't. He opened the screen door, gently placed the painting down, and turned to walk away. Immediately I pulled the door open to catch Grandpa trying to sneak away. I picked up the beautiful painting and told him how amazing I thought it was, and how happy I was that he’d done this for us. He seemed embarrassed with the praise, but I gave him a hug and a beautiful smile spread across his face. I won’t ever forget that smile. I am so glad I opened the door. I wish I had more experiences with him.

These are our flowers for you on this day to thank you for the smiles you've given us, the love you've shared, and the lives you lived. We love you!

Activity Days: The Gospel Game Show

This last week for activity days my partner wasn't able to make it so I was on my own to create a fun, gospel-oriented activity for the 8-9 year olds in my ward. I've wanted to start doing activities where the girls are able to get up and move around more than they are able to do if the activity is just a coloring activity (although depending on your girls' personalities, those can be great lessons too).

I was scrolling through Facebook one day when I saw an article appear from Utah Valley 360 titled, "Dieter or Dumbledore?" Being the HUGE Harry Potter fan that I am, I obviously had to click on the link and test my knowledge of Dieter F. Uchtdorf and Dumbledore...and let me tell you, this quiz is not easy! But from it sparked the idea to have a "Gospel Game Show" for activity days, and the girls loved it!

I had 5 girls show up to the activity, which actually turned out perfect so that they could each have a turn at all of the activities, but I think if I'd had our full class of 8, then the activity would have taken a little longer and maybe been a little more competitive.

Here's what I used for the activity:

• "Who Said It? Dieter or Dumbledore?" Power Point
• Four Signs: Two that read "Dieter" and two that read "Dumbledore"
• A package of Oreos or other small cookies
• Two sets of Book of Mormons with a bookmark at Mosiah 18:9
• A bag of Skittles, Jelly Beans, Candy Corn, or other small candy your girls like. 
• Eight plastic spoons (or enough for each girl to have one)
• Two paper bowls (more if you'd like multiple groups to be playing at once.
• Jar of Pictionary words
• Chalk
• 8 plastic medals (or enough for each girl to have one)

We started off by having a little discussion about helping others.

Discussion:

What is our main purpose here on the earth? (To return to live with our Heavenly Father again). That's my purpose; who else's purpose is that? (Have the girls raise their hands). That's your purpose (say it again and point to each girl in your class as you say "That's your purpose, too"). We all have that same purpose in this life. 

Read Mosiah 18:9 to the girls, or have one of them read it until "even until death.":

          "Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death..."

Who's ever heard this scripture before? This scripture is very special because this is a promise we made when we were baptized. We promised Heavenly Father that we would keep His commandments and to love and serve others including mourning with those that mourn and comforting those that stand in need of comfort. How have you ever kept this promise in the past? (Let the girls answer how they have comforted friends, family members, etc.). So we all have the same purpose in this life, and we have all promised to help each other through it.

Well today  we will be having a "Gospel Game Show!" and it's your job to help your team win!

Activity:
Let the girls choose their teams or assign them teams, but make sure you have the 8 and 9 year olds mixed up so the activities are more fair.

Who Said It? Dieter or Dumbledore
The first challenge was completing Dieter or Dumbledore. At the first the girls had a hard time focusing, but then they really got into it. I gave each team one sign that read "Dieter" and one sign that read "Dumbledore". I read the quote allowed, gave the girls 10 seconds to deliberate, and when the timer reached 0 each team held up a sign with their answer. Whichever team (or both) that got it right, received one point. This was a fun activity even for those girls who weren't as familiar with Harry Potter or Pres. Uchtdorf.

I made a power point presentation using the fun quiz from Utah Valley 360. I added a manual timer to each slide to help the girls see how much time they have. (Sorry I can't post it here, but you should be able to just use the one from Utah Valley 360). 

Feasting on the Word
This next activity allowed the girls to move around a bit more... and they all got really excited when they saw it involved Chocolate Chip cookies. I explained that as we are helping each other come closer to Christ, that doesn't just mean just helping them when their sad, but it means sharing the gospel and "feasting on the words of Christ" or the scriptures so we were physically going to feast for this next activity.

This is a common minute to win it game, but it is so much fun! Have each girl take one cookie and place it on her forehead. The girls then have to squint and scrunch their faces to move the cookie from the forehead, across their eye and cheek, and into their mouths. They aren't allowed to touch it and if it falls off they have to start over.

The first girl to eat her cookie wins her team 3 points. Second place gets her team 2 points. Third place gets her team 1 point.

I made sure to mention to my girls subtly that "they could not touch their own cookie and would have to start over if it fell." I did this just to ensure that if none of my girls could actually get the cookie in their mouths, then I could reiterate that they can't touch their own cookie, but they are one a team and should help each other.

Feasting on the Real Word
Now that they have physically feasted, they are going to have to spiritually feast. Each team must memorize and present the scripture above, Mosiah 18:9 (just the first half unless you'd like them to do more). I let my girls decide in their teams how they wanted to memorize it: all memorize everything, memorize every other word, memorize lines, etc. Both of my teams decided to have each girl memorize one or two lines to present. I was very impressed at how quickly they were able to memorize it and how much they got into it. I helped some of the younger girls who were having a harder time and then we presented the scriptures to the other teams. To make it more exciting, I filmed the girls reciting the scriptures and they all did amazing! 

Pass Off
This last activity included candy, team work, and skill. Only two people from a team go at once -- if you'd like to move it along quicker and you have more girls, then you can use more bowls and candy to create more games at once, but I just had the one going since I only had 5 girls.

Sit each girl down on opposite sides of a table, one bowl in front of each, and the end of the spoon in between each of the girls lips. Fill one bowl with your Skittles, Jelly Beans, or other candy of choice. The girl in front of the full bowl of candy, scoops up a spoonful (using her lips to hold the spoon), dumps her spoonful into her teammates spoon who then dumps the candy into her own bowl. Give each team 1:00 minute. Whichever team ends up having successfully transferred the most pieces of candy gets a point.

You can play this as many times as you want and either tally all the scores for a final score or even give out points based on a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level, that's up to you!

NOTE: This game can get kind of crazy so having a candy that won't melt is a good idea.

Pictionary
We ended up not having time to play this, but I always bring this with me to the activities in case it ends early and the girls want something fun to do. So if the Game Show ends, feel free to pull this out and turn the wonderful game of Pictionary into a competition. I found some great words to use on Cook and Craft Me Crazy.

Before we had our closing prayer, I gave each girl a gold medal because it doesn't matter who got the most points. Everyone did a great job in helping their team to the best that they could do.

Do you have any activity days activities that your girls have just loved? We'd love to hear about them in the comments!

Building a Home on Righteous Habits

The entire East Coast was blessed today to have a very special Stake Conference broadcast from Salt Lake City, UT. We heard from four wonderful speakers: Elder Caster, Sister Reemes, Elder Anderson, and Elder Hales. The talks were beautiful and really helped focus my perspective on life again.

The Conference began with President Cheney addressing those who gathered in our church building near the airport. He started by reminiscing to when he was younger and General Conference wasn't broadcast throughout the world. He related the times when he and his family would travel out of state to at least St. George, UT to be able to watch conference. As he spoke, I was prompted with a very loving and motivating thought, "Look how much effort and time he had to put into something that now takes me no time at all to do."

We are so blessed in our day and age to have the advantages of technology to help us as we grow closer to our Savior and learn more of His gospel, yet so often we don't take advantages of those blessings, but instead see them as hassles that we don't have time for. How often do we choose not to go to the temple because it is a two hour drive? It seems like such a hassle, something we may not have time for, but rather it is a blessing to have a temple so close to us. We don't have to walk as the pioneers would have had to have done. We don't have to fly to another country as so many other saints in other areas of the world need to do. We simply need to get in our car and drive a few hours. The same thought is there for General Conference. How often it seems that we don't have time to sit for four hours on a Saturday to watch our beloved church leaders address us. But all we have to do is push a button and turn on the screen. We don't have to travel to another state, we are so blessed by many things that Satan would have us believe are actually hassles or road blocks and he distracts us with the business of our lives.

Elder Caster began his talk by asking, "Who's on the Lord's side, who?" Is it me? How do I, how do we, show the Savior that we are on His side and fighting for His kingdom if we are not accepting and using the wonderful blessings we've been given -- temples, General Conference, Stake Conference, Scriptures by our bedside, prayer, and more?

One way we can show that we are on the Lord's side is by how we raise and teach our own families, raising the next generation of saints. Elder Hales spoke about this momentous task we have as parents (or future parents in mine and Justin's case) to strengthen our families. One very important opportunity we have to teach our children is by having personal prayer, companion prayer, and family prayer; personal study, companion study, and family study. Each one of these opportunities to bring ourselves and our families closer to our Heavenly Father requires deep thought, and a sincere heart. Our behavior, even now before we have children, is a pattern for how our children should live.

Elder Hales continued to testify of the importance of having weekly Family Home Evening and that both parents should be fully involved in teaching the gospel. He recommended holding family fasts when needed to teach your children by example when to use this amazing blessing. He also recommended having family councils to further prepare and strengthen our homes and to gauge how our children are learning, to discover their hidden talents, and to cultivate a love of the Savior.

All of these wonderful habits that help strengthen a home with children in it are habits that need to start now. For once we have children, they will immediately begin learning from us by our examples.

This beautiful Sabbath morning, Justin and I are beginning to prepare our home with these habits so it will be ready for the time when we do bring children into it to grow up in the gospel with our loving Heavenly Father and Savior. We are beginning to replace inconsequential activities such as watching TV with activities that will strengthen our family together and bring us closer to the Savior.

I am so grateful for my family, for my wonderful husband who does so much for us, and for the great adventure we are in out here in Virginia. It truly has been a blessing to us in so many ways. I am grateful to my Savior and Father in Heaven for their guidance and the confirmation they gave us to move to the East. We have learned so much about ourselves, about the church, about our family, and about the Heavenly Father's plan for us and I'm grateful we were able to trust in Him enough to follow Him to learn these things.

╥ Day! 3.14.15

HaPpY PiE dAy!

Today we celebrated Pi Day (03.14.15) with some of our favorite people here in Virginia by gorging ourselves on Pie. Sometimes you just need to celebrate every holiday...even the little ones. Our friends hosted a Pie party at their house and asked everyone to bring a pie. There was a huge variety and it was so fun to sample bits and pieces from banana pudding pies, cherry-peach pies, coconut cream pies, raspberry chocolate pies and more! 

I'm typically not a huge pie fan, but when Justin and I went pie surfing across Pinterest we found a ton of delicious looking pies that we are dying to try. We ended up deciding to make this Chocolate Bottomed Peanut Butter Pie with an Oreo Crust (our little addition) from "I wash...You Dry". This cream pie blew my mind. It tastes and looks super decadent, but was one of the easiest desserts I've ever made and it got lots of compliments at the party. 

Check out how to make this delicious pie from "I Wash ... You Dry" below:

Chocolate Bottomed Peanut Butter Pie 

Ingredients:

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust (such as Pillsbury), pre baked according to package instructions. We used an Oreo Crust.

For the Chocolate Layer:

• 1⅔ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ⅔ cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp corn syrup or honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Peanut Butter Mousse:

• 1 small box INSTANT vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup cold milk
• ½ cup creamy peanut butter
• 8 oz. Cool Whip, thawed

Optional toppings:

• 8 - 10 Reese's mini cups (or 6 regular cups), chopped
• 2 tbsp melted chocolate for drizzling

Instructions:

1. Combine the chocolate chips, heavy cream, corn syrup and vanilla extract in a microwave safe bowl. Heat at 50% power for 1 minute, then stir with a whisk until the chocolate mixture is smooth and creamy. (If chocolates are not melting you can heat for an additional 15 seconds at 50% power). Pour the chocolate into the pre baked pie crust and smooth out into an even layer. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile prepare the peanut butter mousse by whisking together the instant vanilla pudding mix with 1 cup of cold milk until smooth. Heat the peanut butter in the microwave for just 10 seconds to loosen it up a bit, and then add it to the vanilla pudding. Whisk until smooth and thick. Gently fold in the thawed cool whip until fully incorporated. Pour on top of the chocolate layer.
3. If you'd like, decorate the top with chopped Reese's cups and a drizzle of chocolate. Keep stored in fridge until ready to enjoy.

Check out some of these other pies that we're hoping to try soon:

• Chocolate Strawberry Oasis Pie
• Sour Cream Apple Pie
• Easy Blueberry Pie
• Blueberry Custard Pie
• Sour Cream Lemon Pie

What's your favorite flavor of pie?

Second Breakfast - Raspberry & Cream Pancake Stacks

Last night Justin and I got invited to a Lord of the Rings, Return of the King movie night with some friends that go to UVa with Justin. We were each supposed to bring a "Kingly Dessert" since we were watching the extended version of "Return of the King" (4 hours!). People had signed up to bring sushi (when Smeagol eats the raw fish as he's changing into Gollum), others brought tomatoes (for when Denethor eats the tomatoes after the death of the army of Gondor), one even made Lembas bread (the bread the hobbits survive on). We had no idea what to bring that would be considered "Kingly" especially with such short notice. We decided--to make our own lives easier--that we were going to make Second Breakfast.

You know how sometimes you just need that tasty, delicious dessert? Well whether or not you're going to a Lord of the Rings movie night, this one will totally make you the talk of the table.

I found this amazing recipe for homemade whipped cream on PreparedPantry.com. I made it while Justin cooked up some quarter-sized mini pancakes...the whipped cream was done before his pancakes were. That's how quick and easy it was :)

All you need to make these cute "Second Breakfast" dishes is:
1 recipe of Cream Cheese Whipped Cream
72 mini, quarter-sized pancakes
24 raspberries, or other berry

Once you've made the whipped cream, and cooled down your pancakes, the assembly is pretty quick. We grouped our pancakes together in piles with similar sizes, putting the ones a little bit larger on bottom and then stacking the other two on top. In between each pancake, spread about 1/2 tsp of whipped cream, including on top of the third pancake and top with a raspberry. Gently insert a toothpick through the stack to hold them in place.

**Note: These do get a bit slippery so make sure to use the toothpicks. If you're having a hard time getting the toothpicks in without squishing (or making the tower slip) the whole thing, then insert the toothpick through the berry before you set it on the tower, pushing the majority of the toothpick through the berry, then gently slide it through the tower of pancakes. The berry will just sit on top.

This recipe makes 24 pancake towers, but you will have A TON of whipped cream leftover...but that isn't necessarily a bad thing :)

If you've tried this recipe and have any ideas of what else to use this delicious whipped cream on, share with us in the comments!

DIY Holiday Cards

Each year as the Christmas season grows nearer, one of my favorite things to do is make my own gift cards. I love to do it because it's inexpensive, you can make it look just the way you want and just the size you want, and personalize it to match whoever you're giving it to...plus it's a great way to use up any leftover scraps.

These ideas are very simple (which makes it better!), but I had a lot of fun making these cards for all of my family members this past Christmas and thought I'd share them with you!

 

Let It Snow

Super easy... all you need is paper, a white marker, and a picture or stencil of a snowflake (I just googled one :)). 

 Candy Canes

Draw and cut out one candy cane from computer paper. Trace the candy cane and repeat.

Christmas Lights

All you need is your base paper (dark green), paper the color of your Christmas lights (bright green), patterned paper for the backing of the Christmas lights (red and green striped) and a white and black marker.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer 

This one was a bit trickier. I paper-pieced Rudolph together: his body, his antlers, his nose, his collar, his hooves, and his belly are all separate pieces.

Elves, elves, elves

This one was trickier too. It's paper-pieced with three pieces: the boots, the red cuffs, and the striped tights. I used Elmer's glue to attach the golden beads.

Christmas Gifts

This card wasn't difficult, but the beading made it a bit more time consuming.

Christmas Tree 

More beads!

Once There Was a Snowman 

This one is one of my favorite! Just a lot more paper piecing.

Ornaments

This is another one of my favorites! The textured paper of the ornaments give the card a unique touch but the crafting of it is still very simple...all you need is your paper and a white marker. 

I hope these ideas have inspired you to make your own fun, festive cards! Or use these fun ideas and add your own style to them. I'd love to hear from you--share any cool tips or ideas you have in the comments!

Member Missionaries: Instruments in God's hand

            “And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

            Justin and I had an amazing experience yesterday with missionary work. It was one of those moments that all of a sudden everything in your life lines up on its own as you suddenly remember what is most important in this life for you to be doing: sharing the gospel.

            This life is a test, a series of trials, challenges, and temptations to see if we, God’s children, will turn to Him, keep our faith strong, and endure to the end and receive the blessings which He has for us. This life is only a test and at times when I strongly feel the Spirit with me, I remember that having the cleanest apartment, doing fun things with friends, getting a great job, or Justin spending countless hours every day studying are not the most important things. Although those are not bad goals to have, in fact they are very good goals and can lead to greater opportunity in the future, I realize that Heavenly Father has a plan for me as He does for each one of His children and He needs us all to be spreading the beautiful gospel that we have been blessed with in our lives. I don’t know what I would do without the gospel. If I couldn’t look at this life with an eternal perspective, it would be a very bleak world. And so I want to share it and share this experience with you.

            As Justin and I prayed about coming out to Virginia three months ago, we prayed for increased opportunity to do missionary work. Personally, I found it kind of hard in Orem, UT to reach out to strangers to share the gospel because I felt like everybody there had already heard of the LDS church and knew about it…plus I felt like it was difficult to find those who weren’t members since most of the people I hung out with and worked with were. As we prepared to move to Charlottesville, we prayed that we’d be able to accomplish what Heavenly Father would have us do out here in addition to schooling, especially when it came to missionary work.

            We’ve had the missionaries come visit us three times since we moved here about three weeks ago, but last night was the first night they brought an investigator with them—Shay (changed for anonymity). The missionaries had met Shay on Sunday when her friend, another investigator, invited her to come to church. That was the first night the missionaries met with Tori. Yesterday was Monday and they already had their second appt with her at our house.

            The discussion was on the Restoration and the missionaries had brought the Restoration video to explain a little more clearly to Shay about the restoration of the gospel and Joseph Smith’s part in the organization of the church. The Restoration video always touches my heart and brings the Spirit into the room. After the movie ended, the missionaries asked Shay what she thought and felt. She described the Spirit—a peaceful, calm. She seemed really interested in the LDS church and had read the introduction to the Book of Mormon on Sunday. The missionaries then asked Justin and I to share our thoughts on the restoration and the Book of Mormon as the missionaries were testifying that the Book of Mormon was true and would guide and help Shay.

            Justin started explaining how the Book of Mormon has influenced him and then said, “Well Kim actually has a really cool experience with the Book of Mormon.” I’d thought about sharing this experience with her, but I’d given a talk on the Book of Mormon on Sunday and Shay had come to Sacrament meeting so I figured she’d already heard it. When Justin prodded me, however, I asked Shay if she remembered me talking about it. It turns out she hadn’t made it to Sacrament meeting until just after my talk. So I shared my experience personally with her:

 When I 14 years old, I had my first real trial that made me fall to my knees often in prayer. It sounds silly now but I struggled with feeling like I had any real friends and I struggled knowing who I was—I felt so completely, utterly alone. I prayed often to know what to do and soon found my answer.

In seminary, I often had teachers and peers share experiences where either they or someone they knew struggled with something and they would pray to Heavenly Father and then open their scriptures and point to a verse and that would miraculously be the one that helped them through their trial.

I’d always thought that maybe that was just a coincidence, but at this time in my life, I needed Heavenly Father’s help so I decided to go on faith and to try this. I knelt down and said a prayer to my Father in Heaven asking for His help and then I opened my scriptures and pointed to a verse—Alma 18:21

I’ll let you read it on your own, but I read it with Tori. I explained how this one little verse brought me such strength as I read how Heavenly Father would guard me with His armies and suddenly I didn’t feel so alone anymore. At this point in my life, I’d never read the BoM all the way through, cover to cover and so my knowledge of what happened in what books in the Book of Mormon was lacking.

Later, when I did finally read straight though the BoM I realized something interesting—Alma 18:21 is not Heavenly Father speaking, but King Lamoni speaking to Ammon. And I thought, How did I get this so wrong? And I had the thought, You didn’t. At that particular time in my life, I needed to know that Heavenly Father was with me, that He was guiding me, that He loved me, that He was protecting me and as I prayed about it, He answered me in a way I’d understand. That scripture still brings me strength because not only did I gain a testimony of the BoM, but the BoM helped me to gain a testimony of my Father in Heaven’s true, everlasting love for me as His daughter.

           I bore my testimony to Shay that I know the Book of Mormon is true and that it had been given to us to help us. I told her that I know Heavenly Father loves her so much because He is her father. I shared my testimony with her and I can’t even remember what I said, I just remember feeling such conviction behind my words and I felt the Spirit pouring out of me. Later Justin told me that the Spirit really was so strong when I bore my testimony.

            By the time I finished, Shay was tearing up, her face flushed, and she said, “You don’t know how much I needed to hear that.” She said a few times how much she needed to hear those things and she wrote down in her study journal, “Read the Book of Alma” and said that she wanted to go through and read that whole book because she thinks it could really help her.

The missionaries pointed out to us and to Shay what a blessing this was that she hadn’t heard my experience and my testimony of the Book of Mormon on Sunday so that I could share it with her personally today! I love it when the Lord’s hand in our lives becomes so clear!

It was such an amazing experience, getting to be a part of missionary work and to willingly be an instrument in the Lord’s hand to bring others unto Him. I love missionary work and am excited for the opportunity to do more!

Go Missionary Work! Woot! J

Quesadilla con Carne Macho

One of our goals this semester is to save $6,000 this semester to help us pay for grad school in upcoming semesters. One of the ways we're doing this is by cutting our grocery bill in half, meaning we plan to only go grocery shopping once a month. This is our first go at it so we'll see how it actually works out, but so far at least one good thing has come from Justin and I only grocery shopping once a month: we have to get creative sometimes. 

Last night, after deciding we were sick of Top Ramen and after looking at the random, leftover ingredients in our fridge from previous meals, we created this delicious beast--I'm not even kidding, it was SO good. So I thought I'd post it here for all you others who need to use leftover ingredients in your fridge. 

Check it out and enjoy!

Quesadilla con Carne Macho

Serves 2

1 Chicken Breast, cubed

2 TBS Grill Time Chicken Seasoning

4 Flour Tortillas (10-inch)

2 cups Shredded Colby Cheese

1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

4 Slices Brown Sugar Deli Ham

1 Green Onion, chopped

1. Grease a small frying pan with Pam or other cooking spray. Place cubed chicken in pan and sprinkle with Grill Time Chicken Seasoning (or another seasoning of your choice). Cook until there's no pink left.

2. In a separate frying pan, heat one tortilla on medium to medium-high heat. Sprinkle with 1 cup of Shredded Colby Cheese and heat until it begins to melt. Divide chicken evenly and place half of the chicken pieces on the cheese. Sprinkle with half the chopped green onions. Place two slices of ham down center of tortilla and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese. Place second tortilla on top. 

3. Heat quesadilla for about a minute then flip using a pancake turner. **The melted cheese should hold everything in place. Briefly heat this side of the quesadilla before moving to a plate

4. Repeat steps for second quesadilla

**Great with Sour Cream, Salsa, and Guacamole.

What do you think?

Welcome to Our New Home!

Virginia is amazing. It really is so beautiful here, even on the rainy days...but then again, I love the rain.

Justin and I finished unpacking all of our stuff and sealing off our apartment (to keep cigarette smoke out) a day or two ago. We used a ton of weather stripping around the front door, we duct taped gaps around the washer and dryer hookups and around piping under the bathroom sink, and he even disconnected the dishwasher and pulled it out from the counter so he could fill in a 3' x 2" gap that really let the smell in from the apartment next door. We've put a lot of work into this place over the last week and I really do love it like home. It's set up cute and even our 2nd bedroom/office looks good even though it's part storage room, too.

Ready to see our home? Welcome to the Barracks West Apartments!

See the top left? That's us :) 

Check our new place...

The Kitchen:

Before

After (Cleaned and moved into)

The Living Room/Dining Room:

Before

After

After 

The Bathroom:

Before

After

The Bedroom:

Before

After
(We also built the best dresser ever that you can't see in the pic)

So that's our home for the next year or two...I think it'll work out quite nicely :) There's one more addition we made to our family this last week--her name's RJ (Rhonda Junior). Welcome to the family! 

We Made It! One Week Complete

Well we’re here! After over 33 hours of driving more than 2000 miles across 10 states of the country on just 15 hours of sleep, we made it to Charlottesville, VA. And it is beautiful here! You can’t see to the next street over (or really any distance for that matter) because lush green trees line the sides of every road. It is amazing. It feels like we get to drive through Provo Canyon when we’re just trying to get to the Post Office or somewhere simple…it’s like Provo Canyon but better.

The road trip across the United States was actually really fun, and really pretty. Yep, we even thought the flat, never-ending drive through Wyoming and Nebraska was pretty (it’s probably a good thing we saw those on the first day though). Kentucky was really pretty. St. Louis was fun with the bustle of the big city and we road the metro to the Gateway Arch. That thing is massive and way cool! We tried to get a ride to the top but by the time we made it (blame a crazy, scam artist taxi driver…I am ;)) we’d just missed the last tram by 10 minutes. That’s okay though. We got to walk along the Mississippi River and get out of the motel. Plus, now we have a reason to go back: The Gateway Arch and Buttercake.

Before we got to St. Louis, we did a Church History tour that second day. We saw Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Liberty Jail, Far West, and the RLDS Temple. The first three were absolutely amazing! We sat at Adam-Ondi-Ahman and read scriptures about this beautiful place that Christ will come to during the Second Coming. I thought Adam-Ondi-Ahman was going to just be like a hill, but it’s not. It’s like a valley—it’s huge! And so green! There were butterflies everywhere, too. As we sat and read scriptures about Adam blessing his posterity here, butterflies would come rest on our legs and sit and lick our fingers. (The licking kind of freaked me out).

Far West was absolutely amazing. There is no temple there, but there is dedicated ground for a temple. The saints got as far as dedicating the ground and laying the cornerstones before mobs forced them out. The temple at Far West will be built again for the Second Coming though. Even though there wasn’t a physical temple on that ground, it was a very spiritual experience. A quiet, peaceful hush filled the area. It was amazing, and really interesting because the big RLDS temple did not have that type of peaceful spirit despite the large, expensive structure. It was the quiet, peaceful spirit that filled up the ground at Far West.

Liberty Jail was awesome too. The missionaries there walked us through the history and then showed us the jail where the basement is still the exact same basement, except for a few wall boards, that Joseph Smith and others were locked in for so long. All three places we visited were places that the Prophet Joseph Smith once stood in. It was an awesome experience.

Despite the occasional smell of secondhand smoke drifting into our apartment from around the poorly sealed door, the baseboards, and possibly the pipes, our apartment here in Virginia is pretty nice. It didn’t used to be…when we arrived the white carpets were stained with black and yellow spots, the cupboards were left with food (I found a Chewy bar) and crumbs everywhere, even some sticky residue in the cupboards. Food and grease splattered the outside of the cupboards and we immediately thought, “What are we doing?”

Both Justin and I have known that us coming to Virginia wasn't just to study at UVA but that there was something else that we both need to learn and need to do by doing this. We've only been here three days and we've already learned a ton!

There wasn’t much else we could do so we got to work. We vacuumed the carpets as best we could, scrubbed every inch of the kitchen, even on top of the fridge and cupboards, washed the bathroom, and cleaned walls until it felt a little bit cleaner. Justin, and his handy toolbox, fixed a broken closet door, rogue screws poking through the cupboards, and rogue cables extending from what feels like every corner of the room. We then started the process of unpacking. Today is day 3…or maybe 4 and we still haven't unpacked all the way. This is a HUGE job, especially when there’s only one closet for clothes to go and the coat closet is too risky of a place to put things you don’t want to smell like smoke :/. Yesterday we assembled our bed, dresser, kitchen table, office desk, and set up our couch and TV. It’s really starting to look like home.

We bought a TV stand, contact paper for inside the kitchen cupboards, a 5-shelf storage unit to put all our big appliances on since the cupboards are too small for such things, a super cute area rug to hide some spots and to bring in color, and some more.

Although I didn’t like the place when we first moved in, I really like it now. All except that pesky smoke smell coming from the neighbors. When the smell came in the other night while we were trying to relax and watch TV, we were both super disheartened. We didn’t want to have to get rid of all of our stuff when we’re done here because it and us smell like smoke. We didn't know what to do. We’ve narrowed the smoke smell coming from the hallway (which always smells heavily of smoke) and then possibly through the baseboards.

The only thing we can think to do is to get to work. Today we’re going shopping and going to look into getting weather stripping to put around the door so that hallway smoke can’t come in. I’m hoping that with that and some Wallflower plug ins throughout our home, it’ll stop smelling like smoke and stop letting the smoke in.

Do you have any suggestion for what we should do??  We could use some ideas!

Three Days and Counting

It is so crazy! We only have three days until we head out to Virginia--three days! I told Justin earlier today that I don't know how I feel about it... well, I do actually. Excited, sad, nervous, antsy to get gone, pumped for the adventure, panicked, loved, and a whole lot of other stuff.

This last week has flown by what with work, hanging out with some of our absolute favorite people! (Mom & Dad, Kris & Trent, Kathy & Kirk, the Stockwells, Grandma Downs, Josh & Rache, the Blenders, the Biesingers, Jared & Heather, the Turners, and Jen and her kiddos!), packing, looking for jobs, and everything else. It has been crazy busy, which unfortunately always makes time feel like it's speeding up. The closer we get to actually leaving the harder it is to say goodbye.

Rebecca told me something cool though. It isn't goodbye...you never say "goodbye" to family, only "see you soon." I have to keep reminding myself that each time I hang out with these amazing people I am going to miss so much!

Kristy gave me this amazing goodbye gift to remember her by and to remember that we are sisters for eternity. I am so lucky to have such wonderful people to call my brothers, sisters, and mom and dad. I haven't been able to take the necklace off yet.

Today mom and Stephanie came over for about four hours to help me finish packing up everything in our house. Justin and I have been gradually packing over the past few months and so we didn't have a ton to do, but I still couldn't believe it took us four hours. Our house is practically bare now, including all of our bedding, our closets, and kitchen cupboards, and the boxes in the living room are practically touching the ceiling.

Tomorrow the plan is to finish boxing everything up, go to the temple, and then job hunt all day. Yep, we're still looking for jobs out in VA. I have a part time job with a company called River Runners, a company that does brand management for manufacturer's on Amazon. They are letting me work remotely from Virginia, but I'm looking for a full time job, too--maybe something in the restaurant business, childcare workplace, or at UVA will open up. Other than that, this is now the time to enjoy every moment we can with those we love most.

So far this week we have gone out to eat with the Stockwells; played with Caleb, Morgyn, and Jon at their house; visited with Rebecca and Tate and played at their house; went and visited with Grandma D; packed and cleaned with mom and Stephanie; karaoked all night with all our ward friends and youth; had a fondue night with Kris & Trent, not to mention played games; went shopping with Kris and Mom; went to an Owlz game with the whole fam; visited with Jared and Heather; hung out with Kathy & Kirk and sang at Grandma Benson's devotional. We're going to top it all off with a goodbye party Saturday night with the Lender family and a goodbye party Sunday night with the Benson family. Man, this weekend is going to be rough, but fantastic! It can never really be that bad when you have so many people to love. I feel so lucky and happy to have so many loved ones so close.

And we're just three days and counting.