Richard Paul Evans

This last week I had the opportunity to go to a training were the keynote speaker was Richard Paul Evans. I have heard that he is a great author, but I have never read any of his books. I have seen some of the movies made by the books.

There were several things that he shared that were inspiring, but I will share what I thought was most important.

"What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?"

He gave us 5 things that he wishes he had known growing up.
1-There is a reason you are here!
2-You will never achieve Divinity until you release things that are holding you back from the past. Ask yourself "Who do I need to forgive right now?
3-Do something with your life.
4-You are going to hit road bumps, accept it!
5-Always do things in Love. Love is a choice, you don't fall out of love. We love those whom we serve!

And lastly he gave an example of grapevines that I never knew about. He and his family used to live in Italy and one day while he was on a walk he asked a grape/wine farmer..."You must have really good soil to grow such amazing grapes?" The farmer told him no, the soil needed to be poor in order to have good grapes. The reasoning is that grapes are lazy! They have to work hard to get down to their food source and grow. If they went through good soil the grapes would not be big and flavorful. He likened that to each of us. We need to go through hard things in order to achieve great things. I loved this analogy!!! Such a motivational speaker!

Ry's Wedding

One week ago my brother Ryun got married to sweet Katie:) I love them both! The great part about the wedding was that it was in Arizona. That meant 75-80 degree temps. Two days later I went to a cousins wedding in Draper in pelting snow and freezing temps, can you say HORRIBLE? Not the wedding, just the weather:)((Congrats Brian and Danielle)).

The only downsides that I could come up with from going to Arizona was that I forgot my temple recommend and it wasn't a long enough trip!

I stayed with my cousin Stephanie and her family one night and in a hotel with my Grandma Mitchell the other night. It was so fun to see family that I had not seen in awhile!!! Their sealing was great because the sealer had some very wonderful insights about the temple and the reception was so much fun because of the dancing, which I am not normally into. It was very entertaining to watch family members dance, LOL!
Ryun's last moment as a single man...Doesn't he look dapper?
The first people I saw when I arrived at the temple, my Aunt Tracy (my Mom's only sister) and Eleanor. Great start to the day!
The Mesa Temple, beautiful inside and out!
Finally the new couple emerges:)
Mr. and Mrs. Ryun Zobell!!!!!
The Mitchell and Zobell Women come together:)
E thinking..."What is all this excitement going on around me?"
The start of my one day addiction to Eleanor.
Brett and Steph, my gorgeous siblings!
All the siblings...Aren't we good looking?
Eleanor's most favorite Aunt's. We know where she gets her good looks from:):)
The Bride and Groom with their Zobell Parent's.
Me once again attached to E. I'm sure my Brother and Sis-in-law were annoyed that I didn't want to let her go. I paid for it the next day...my arms were killing me!
My fashionista cousin Steph and her family (whom I stayed with). All members of the family are equally entertaining and smart!
Yes I danced with Eleanor more then anyone:p
Another amazing couple Kandance and Glen. They always are so sweet to cheer me up and check on me.
Best dance of the night, the YMCA! From the middle to the right... Ry, Brett, and Glen.
My Great Aunt Katie and Uncle Billy, who were the couple that was married the longest in attendance, 34 years, Congrats!
Yes that is Brett and Glen entertaining everyone with their funky dance moves.
Technically the bouqet landed on the floor, I picked it up, and gave it to my cousin's daughter. So it doesn't count as the first bouquet I have ever caught.
Just a glimpse of what we did to the wedding car;)
Yes, that is me very, very tired at the end of the reception. At least I got to go to the Cheesecake Factory with family afterwards.

The next day I went to breakfast with Mitchell family, lunch with my Zobell cousin Steph, then window shopping, and then a quick goodbye to my Aunt Suzanne and Uncle Greg. I didn't want to leave!!! When I got to the SL airport it was freezing. I missed the warm temps, fruit trees, family fun, time off work, and my flip flops. Overall it was a great wedding and I hope Ryun and Katie enjoyed my gift. Congrats and good luck in your future! Love you both!!!

Pinterest

I have had fun with Pinterest because it inspires me to do things! Very rarely do I go through a cookbook and think I want to make that, but if someone recommends or makes something that I think is amazing I make it. Mostly I have done food things so far, but I am excited to start crafting and such too. Here are some of the things I have done:
California Sandwich, with variations, and I even grew my own green onions.
Fruit Yogurt smoothie...I added Peaches and Raspberries too.
Such a good salad. The only downside was not being able to find Quinoa, so I used something similar to Couscous.
Cranberry Jalapeno Cilantro Dip. My aunt and Janet have also made it:)
Green Smoothie, LOVED! It called for Mango and Almonds, but I'm allergic so I used peaches and no nuts. My favorite part was the coconut water.
Obviously this is not food, but I think the cleaning tip is worth sharing. Baking soda and Hydro. Peroxide mixture cleans off old pan crud!

Good News

Almost everyday I like to read the news on the Internet or a cellphone app. Generally I am browsing because most of it is BAD news. Today was not an exception to that; However there were two good stories that I wanted to share.

Guess who made the top ten list of most admired men in 2011 (Gallup/USA Today Poll)? I am so excited that President Monson was on it! Not so happy that President Obama was number #1, what a load of crap! President Monson is so much more influential.

The other story that really touched me was about a boy in Texas who has had heart problems most of his life. Watching his homemade videos explains it all. At first I was sad to learn that he died on Christmas Day, but after watching the videos and reading his story I was happy for him to move on.

So here's to the good news in 2011 and coming in 2012:)

Christmas Miracles

This morning I was reading in the Mormon Times and read an article called "10 Standout Christmas Jar Miracles from 2011." I loved this article since it related to the book "Christmas Jars" by Jason Wright, which was amazing. It talked about real life Christmas Jar stories from around the country. It also made me think of the year I decided to do something similar to this for my family and friends for Christmas. I gave them each the book, a jar, and donated to a church fund in their name. Most people thought it was a good idea, but boy do I remember my brothers not being very happy with me. I highly recommend you reading this article, although I cannot find the link, but it is in the Deseret News.

Reading this also reminded me of the greatest miracle that has taken place in my life. Without getting into detail the last two weeks have been a life changing event for me and I am so thankful for my Savior and His sacrifice for me! It has been the hardest year of my life, but I finally was able to overcome and know that it is one of the Lord's tender mercies for me. I am so blessed!!!

Cards

Trip to Missouri

Recently I went out to Missouri for 3 reasons...to visit my Mom's grave, see the Christmas stuff in Branson, and spend time with my grandma. It was a great trip, but also hard. It was hard to go through more of my Mom's things and visit her grave, but it was a lot of fun to have my grandma all to myself. We watched about a bazillion Christmas movies and ate lots of treats.
Isn't my grandma so cute? Plus she is so feisty! I love her spunk!!!
The infamous Silver Dollar City! The last time I went there was with all my Mitchell relatives about 20 years ago.
The 5 story tree that has a ton of lights on it and is coordinated to music.
G-ma and I getting our Christmas on:)
Our favorite tree in the park because it had icicles on the tree that made it look like it was snowing.
This tree may not be as pretty as the main attraction, but it was bigger! I went inside the cave (by myself since there were 700 steps that my grandma could not do) which used to be the main attraction or what got Silver Dollar City started. The room that had the Christmas tree lights once fit 5 hot air balloons inside it. My favorite part of the cave though was the bats!
Aren't we so cute? I could see so much of myself in my grandma and Mom while I was there.
My old grandma and grandpa's house or where I grew up visiting them until my college years when they moved.
I love anything Amish and this buggy was parked at the grocery store. I enjoyed talking to the Amish gentleman too.
My Grandpa Mitchell's grave. What's wrong with this picture?
Front of Mom's grave
Back of Mom's grave
Me missing my Mom a ton!
Quick stop at the Kansas City Temple which will be dedicated in the Spring and is in my mission:)