Spiritual Enlightenment

I was reading a talk that Elder Bednar gave in the Dominican Republic (not sure when it was given), and a few things stood out to me that I wanted to share.  The talk was about eternal families, and finding your eternal companion.  Here are a couple of parts that really stood out. . .

“Don’t let the world cause you to needlessly delay marriage,” Elder Bednar counseled. “Don’t be foolish or premature either, because the decision to marry may be the most important decision you will make in your life.  Do not be afraid; remember faith casts out fear and recognize that, in this world, faith will be required as you take this significant step.  As you honor your covenants and appropriately seek for an eternal companion, you can receive guidance and direction and continue your progress.”

“Some young people seem to have a shopping list of characteristics they want in a companion and measure their potential: ‘Do you have all the things that I require?’  If you hope to have an eternal companion who has certain spiritual qualities, then you must strive to develop those spiritual qualities in yourself. Then someone who has those qualities will be attracted to you.


 I think what he says here is SPOT ON.  I love that he says to not "delay" marriage.  I feel like Mormons take a lot of heat when it comes to getting married young.  I mean, obviously I feel like it can be a good thing b/c I got married at 20, which I thought would never happen, but I 'm glad it did.  I have talked to people before who are early 30's and not married, and have told me that they regret not pursuing a relationship in their early 20's.  Why they didn't pursue it was for several different reasons...finish school, travel abroad, "other plans," etc...  Of course there are things that I wish I would've been able to do while going to college, but I'm glad that I found my companion, and that we are able to grow together.  Watching Tyler go through the whole dental school process has made us stronger as a couple.  It's good for us... when he graduates (4 to 8 years...AAHH!) it'll mean so much more to me since I was with him through the whole thing.

I also love that he talks about a "shopping list."  I definitely had a "shopping list," but I think every girl in Young Women's had one.  I probably had 10...who knows.  There were things on that list that were SO dumb, and if I would've stuck to that list, I would probably never get married.  That doesn't mean I lowered my expectations, it just means that I snapped into reality.

Lastly, I like where he talks about being what you want in somebody, meaning, if you're a bum, you're going to attract a bum.  I remember seeing what were described as "hott" guys around, and wondering why they were always attracted to stupid, fake-looking girls.  Well, turns out, they were either stupid or the only thing they had going for them was their looks.

Anyway, I ramble, I know, but I really liked these quotes, and thought I would share :)  PS, I found the link to the talk on NieNie's blog, which is great in itself.

Westminster Basketball

tanner had a basketball game last night up at westminster, so naturally we headed up to salt lake.  it was a disappointing lost, but it was fun nonetheless.  the refs were AWFUL, and i told tyler that it's a good thing he doesn't play sports because i don't think i could emotionally handle it.  i was getting so mad with the refs.  basketball really does bring out the worst in me. . . it's probably a good thing tyler and i don't play sports ha.  anyway, we finally got some pictures of us at the game.  we take our camera every time, but never seem to take any pictures.

Tanner shooting a freethrow

Lisa & Shawn

Lisa & Me

Paul & Tyler

Lisa & Shawn w/ G&G Tanner

Me & Ty

Me, Lisa, & Ty

A fun, long weekend!

like i said before, my parents came to town last week.  they arrived VERY late wednesday night, and left early sunday to beat the storm.  it was a fun 3 days. . .

• my family came to my classroom to meet my students
• my parents came to the school's patriotic program, where they got to meet the amazing people i work with (mentioned in an earlier post)
• we went to provo beach resort (the kids were in love)
• ate at melawi's 
• hung out and talked for hours
• got massages with my mom and tiersha
• went shopping
• went bowling
• took the kids to kiwanis park
• went out to dinner with lisa, shawn, allie, alma, audrey, and my family before tanner's basketball game
• watched tanner's game (and an amazing halftime show)
• played with the kids over at lisa & shawn's house

all in all it was a great weekend, and we ended it with sunday dinner at lisa & shawn's w/tiersh and josh, the muppet (surprisingly ok) movie, and dinner with rachel and russell on monday.  it was a very busy weekend, but at the same time, very relaxing and enjoyable.  we're trying to soak everything up in utah before we leave for school!

 

William was terrified of this lazer game.  He would peak in the curtain for a LONG time, but would never actually go in.  It was hysterical.  That's what he wanted to do all night...

 BYU bowling ally

 This is a group of women who are ages 50-90, and they all do tae-kwon-do (I think).  They put on a halftime show for everybody, and a lady (who was probably 90) did the splits.  It was awesome.

My family came to town. . .

We'll get to that later though.  I don't really have any pictures yet (my mom's got them). 

This week was the week of the Patriotic Program at Canyon Crest.  It was CRAZY town.  The kids were not focused whatsoever.  I'm pretty sure I'll have to reteach everything I taught last week.  We had several big practices that took an hour, and then 1 dress rehearsal at Timpview on Thursday morning, with the performance on Thursday night.  We took the buses over in the morning, but had to WALK back to Canyon Crest.  The kids were exhausted by the time we got back.  BUT, they did awesome during the night performance.  Holy cow, they were by far, the BEST grade (I'm biased).  I really do think they were the best... It was hard to hear several of the grades, and with the 5th graders, they did the skit "Who's on first," and sang "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."  Several people were laughing, and having a great time.  I handed Ty the camera, and he got some great pics of the night.  Please excuse all the red faces...it was probably 90 degrees inside the auditorium.  Oh, and what made the night even better was that my parents came and saw all of my kids perform.  It was a fabulous night, and I became even more grateful for the other 5th grade teachers I work with.  They're awesome.

 The lyrics the students memorized (2 pages front and back!)...Me happy to be done!

 The whole school singing "God Bless America."

My AMAZING co-workers

Valentine's Day at school

Apparently Valentine's Day is a huge deal at Canyon Crest, and the kids go ALL out.  The kids build Valentine boxes (which store all of the Valentines they get), and some of them went crazy.  Here's some pics of my students' boxes, as well as the whiteboards, which Tyler and my kids covered with love notes...