Penny Whistles and Peace

For the last week I have been attending a training from Liz Shropshire to learn how to play and teach the Penny Whistle. It was amazing. She has a foundation called the Shropshire Music Foundation. She goes to countries in conflict and teaches the children music to bring peace in their lives. It was an amazing training and I was able to talk to her. She is doing such good in the world. I hope that I can take what she has taught me and make a difference in others lives. The Penny Whistle has already brought peace into my life. :)

Conference and Yummy Food

Since I am in Hawaii, General Conference is at 6am and 8am. During the break we made pancakes with fruit and eggs baked in ham with cheese on top. It was YUMMY!

For the General Relief Society Meeting we made Snickers popcorn. We had so much we gave a lot of it away, but that made it even better.

I love General Conference. I feel so focused afterwards and spiritually uplifted. I am grateful that I get to here from apostles and the prophet of the Lord every 6 months. They truly are the mouth pieces of the Lord. When it is all over is feels like Christmas is over. Although we have these words to study until next time.

Aloha Oe, Forrest Towle

I think I believed with my heart that my grandparents would be around forever, even though in my head I knew that one day he would leave this world. I just didn't realize the day would actually come so soon. The world lost an amazing gentleman, as my Mom would say. After 89 years of a wonderful life Grandpa has left us. 

My grandpa has been such a big part of my life. I learned so much from my Grandpa. He was a man of few words, but he showed his love to his family more than any person I know. He taught me to love the ocean. I feel like I am a professional beachcomber because I was taught by a master. I can remember numerous beach walks with my grandpa hunting for agates and seashells. To this day I can't walk the beach without looking for the hidden treasures that are found there.

While growing up, my grandparents took me on some amazing trips. One of my favorite memories was when we went to Hawaii and I watched as my grandparents danced. One thing I always noticed about my grandpa is how much he loved my grandma and the rest of his family. 

My Grandpa was a wood carver and loved making things. I remember when I was eight getting a wooden cradle to put my dolls in. Later on he hand crafted me a cage for my pet rat, Templeton. He also made miniature dishware that he won a ribbon for in the Western Idaho Fair.  This last Christmas he gave me a wooden pen and pencil that he had made, something that I will always treasure. 

There are so many things that I will miss. My Grandpa's homemade chili, homemade rolls, hamburgers on the patio, watching him squirt the squirrels with a water gun to keep them from the grapes, and so much more. I will miss the adventures and just being with him.

Christmas won’t be the same without him. Not only will I miss his amazing Christmas cookies and candy, I will also miss spending Christmas day with him. I can’t remember a Christmas at home without him. I am so thankful for the knowledge that families are forever and that I will see him again. Eternity without him is something I cannot comprehend. Now it is time for me to share his legacy with my nieces and nephews and someday hopefully with my own children. My Grandpa may have left this world, but some how I feel he is with us still. He will be missed by many. Until then Grandpa, Aloha Oe. Until we meet again. 

Yummy Food

Recently my friends Megan, Irene, and I have been trying out some new recipes and making yummy desserts. I thought I would share the yummy ones.

 This our classic movie snack. Air popped popcorn and M&Ms. So yummy. I don't know if I can ever go back to microwave popcorn.

Strawberries filled with cheese cake filling, dipped in chocolate, and then dipped in graham cracker. So yummy and really easy to do. Plus strawberries are fruit so maybe it isn't so bad for you. :)

Brownies made with hot fudge, cookies and cream icecream and oreos. It tastes the best warm with ice cream on the side.

Let's just face it M&Ms make anything taste better. We just sprinkled M&Ms in brownie batter and then baked it. So good!

Swinging on a Star

Live Big Band music, dancing, chocolate fountain, and great friends. At the end of First Term our ball was a 40's theme. It was a lot of fun. I was with great friends and I even learned how some different dances. I sometimes think I was born in the wrong era. 40's music is my favorite to dance too. Maybe it is the fact that you can actually dance to it. It was a fun filled evening.

Valley of the Temples

 This term has been crazy and I decided to take a break from studying Arbinger and doing my Intercultural Communications class. Actually on the 30 minute ride to the Valley of the Temples I practiced giving the Arbinger Seminar to Catherine and Marc. I have been in Hawaii for over three years and I have never been to Valley of the Temples. It was great to have a break from my room and to see something that I haven't seen before. It was such a beautiful sight. It was built over a 100 years ago without the use of nails. They also had this bell that you could ring. It was great!

They had all of these signs posted everywhere warning about peacocks and to be careful not to let you children get too close. I think as a child I would be traumatized for life if I got attacked by a peacock.

We were allowed to go into the temple to spend some time. You could really feel the peace and quiet. It was nice.

What a great day! It was fun spending time with Marc and Catherine and getting to see such a beautiful place.

Lighthouses and friends

My friends Irene, Megan, Ambree, and I decided to go on a hike to a light house out on the South side of the Island. It was a great hike and it was so good to be away from the distractions of life. I enjoyed my talks with my friends. After the hike we went to Kailua to the beach. It was a great day! We got so much sun. :)

After the beach we took a trip to Walmart and Sam's Club. On the way home we found some people selling Krispy Kreme's on the side of the road so we bought a box. Did you know that 12 donuts split between 4 people equal 3 donuts each? I am pretty sure that we ate all of them in about 5 minutes. I am not sure that was the greatest idea, but man did it taste good.

Family, Pedicures, Angry Birds, and Harry Potter

I took a vacation to visit my family in Idaho. It's sad that to go on vacation I go to Idaho and everyone else goes to Hawaii. I started out my time in Idaho by going to our annual Weaver reunion. It was nice to see family I haven't seen in a while and it was great to roast some marshmallows. I have missed camping. I was able to spend lot of time with my family. My niece Kaitlyn is adorable.

My sister came into town for a few days. It was great to be surrounded by all my family. I can't remember the last time I got to hang out with just the girls without any little ones with us. It was great to be together. Thanks to my brother in-law we all went and got pedicures. I don't think I have had such girly toe nails in my entire life, but it was fun.

My brother got us hooked to the game Angry Birds. When ever I am around he either has my itouch or phone playing. He has us playing on our own time too. While shopping I ran across these shirts and we couldn't pass them up.

To finish off my trip we had a picnic in the park. I remember when I was little my brothers would always play Mario Brothers on the old school Nintendo. They would let me play once in a while. This should explain the shirt that my brother, Ben, and I are wearing.

After the park I went to get in line to see Harry Potter with my mom and sister in-law Deanna. My dad came and joined us later. I am an avid fan of Harry Potter. If you ask the people close to me what makes my happy they would probably say Harry Potter, Christmas, Superman, and Family History. I can't tell you how many times I have read the books. I feel like I grew up with the books. I can still remember picking up the first Harry Potter book when I was in sixth grade. It is sad to have the movies come to an end but I am grateful to have been able to go to the last midnight showing. The audience we were with was great. They were having fun and made the atmosphere that much better. They were even acting out parts of the book as they were dressed up as the various characters. And to top things off we got a great rendition of Harry Potter Puppet Pals.

ARFIS?!

I finally know what I suffer from. I emailed my uncle a question that I had about some ancestors that I was trying to find. Included in his return email was a warning about a disease called ARFIS. After reading the definition I have concluded that I suffer from this very disease. I am not sure if it makes me a nerd, weird, or what. The disease is called ARFIS and this is the definition.

ARFIS (är΄ fis), n.

Ancestral Research Focus Impairment Syndrome.

1.     Pathol. an acute, commonly epidemic disease, occurring in several forms, caused by numerous discovered genealogical links and characterized by frequently jumping from branch to branch while researching a family tree.

2.     Alt. Pathol. also known to cause afflicted individuals to lose track of the passage of time due to intense concentration on the investigation of heredity history.

3.     Usage:

§  ARFIS prevented me from identifying all the siblings.

§  I’m sorry dinner’s late, my ARFIS was acting up.

§  I’m so tired today.  I was up late with ARFIS.

§  What fire?

[2010-11]

It gave me a good laugh. I laugh not because of how ridiculous this sounds, but because of how true this fits my life at the moment. I am just glad to know I am not the only one to suffer from this. :)

Orange Juice and Family History

I have two addictions in my life right now. The first is Orange Juice. I love it!!! I might have had two bottles today. There is just something about a nice cold glass of orange juice and the great thing is that it goes with almost any meal.You can have it for breakfast, for lunch, for dinner, and even in between those meals. :)

My second addiction is Family History. I don't know what it is about family history but it has taken over my life. I spent all  night one night this week just looking up names and trying to find connections. It is great to learn where you have come from and to remember those that we truly owe our very existence to. So this summer I will continue to drink my orange juice and do my family history and I WILL love every moment of it. :)