Credit for a Sacrifice

Today is Sunday. Sunday means Church. But today was a little different then most, except right now it seems more normal then anything. Today was a Mission farewell. For my cousin BJ. While I wouldn't say that BJ and I were ever close or anything. I was really impressed with his talk. He was so good with words. He knew when it was okay to make a joke and knew he could make those jokes at his sisters expense. He is going to be a great missionary. That is for sure. A lot of times in my family, we don't get to see the spiritual side of people until things like this. And today was no different. He has such a strong testimony and will do a great job.



But! What really hit me was when their bishop which just happens to be my uncle, had all the boys and girls who had their calls and were waiting in the congregation stand. I was taken back by not only the number of them but how they all looked. Some nervous, scared, and feeling a little awkward about having to stand. But they were all proud. They all seemed to have a little bond as they looked across the chapel at each other and gave a small nod of encouragement to each other.

My uncle explained that the church was in good hands, that these future missionaries would soon blanket the Earth with the truth of the Gospel.

Then of course, with Mike gone, my mind races to him and when he was in these people places. When he was terrified to go but still proud. Proud to be representing the Gospel and Christ.

The looks of these boys was amazing. To see them, sitting in church awaiting their departure dates, however far away they may be. Or close. They were doing it. They were going to give up 2 years of their lives, 2 years with their friends, college, family, their hobbies, and interests, boyfriends and girlfriends, free weekends, their cars, phones, ipods, computers, all of it. For two whole years. To serve the Lord. To bring people into the Gospel. All because it had been suggested. No one forced them. No one took away anything to urge them into the right decision or filled out the papers for them. These 19 years old boys and 21 year old girls did it themselves. They made the choice.
             
That fact right there amazes me. 19, fresh out of high school or freshman year in college, living in what most would say is the best time of your lives. And they give it up. Without even thinking twice. They submit their papers, wait for a call and prepare for that date on the paper. 

Just think about that. I don't think missionaries get enough credit for the sacrifice they make for the Lord.


So here's to all the missionaries out there. You deserve more credit then you get. The work is hard. It's hard to give up 2 years. Hard to live away from your normal of family and friends. Hard to find investigators. Hard to deal with companions. Hard to be a missionary. So here's to you.

Elder Michael David Free

Elder Taylor Reese Pizza

Elder BJ Edman

Elder Alex Goaslind (coming soon)

Elder Tanner Daines

Elder Jaron Fowers

Elder Joshua Burri

Elder Andrew Paulson

Elder Emerson Evans

Elder Seth Hilton

Elder Steven Bennett (coming soon)

Elder Dustin Randall

Elder Mitch Stevens

Elder Johnny Crimm

Elder Ryan Moser

Elder Tanner Boyer

Elder Connor Barlow (coming soon)

Elder Robert World

Elder Aaron Lloyd

Elder Nathan Stoven

Elder Trevor Mendel

Elder Alex Campbell

Elder Boston Loveless

Elder Alex Campbell

Elder Ben Taylor

Elder Christopher Romney

Elder Thomas Palmer

Elder Jerry Dearden

Elder Daren Dearden (coming home soon!)

Elder Daniel Robinson

Elder Andrew Day

Elder Tyler Larson

Elder Andrew Powley

Elder Andrew Jesse

Elder Ben Nelsen

Elder Brad Witbeck

Elder Tim Roberson (coming soon)

Elder Tanner Howell (coming soon)

Elder Parker Breinholt

Elder Brock Erickson

Elder Nathan Odendahl

Elder Talmage Egan

Elder Spencer Canova

Elder Sam Christian

Elder Daniel Thomas

Elder Nathan Glad

Elder Kyle Esplin

Elder Jared Smith (coming soon)

Elder Bailey Brimhall (coming soon)

Elder Andy Fankhauser

Elder Eric Borland (coming soon)

Sister Melissa Borland

Sister Ashley Smith

Sister Shannon Walsh (coming soon)

Sister Michelle Summerhays (coming soon)

Sister Felicia Dorous

Sister Whitney Nelson

Sister Mallory Goaslind (coming soon)- yes, you read that right...

Brother and Sister Joe and Virginia Cannon (Coming soon)

And everyone I've forgotten! 

And the Past and future missionaries. 

And it's no wonder I have no friends...

Cabin Fever

Every summer, my family heads up to our super classy cabin in Weber. It's always fun. We've done it since I can remember and you just can't have a summer without the cabin. This year was complete with lots of cards playing, rivers, beavers and their dams, tons of hummingbirds, two dogs, piano, horseback riding, snakes, gophers, Eli, Riiiiick, a swing in the trees, smiling horses, Mall Madness rain, 2 movies, buffalo's, and lots of laughs. And surprisingly no Spring or scavenger hunts. E-arth.

Eskimo Sisters

This last weekend, with much anticipation, Lynds finally ventured down from crazy ol Wyoming to visit!
I was so freaking excited.
I hadn't seen her since May 6 and I finally got to on July 20.
That is a really really long time.
We obviously got way excited and screamed and yelled when we finally saw each other at the snow shack.
Which we left by the way because there were too many people from high school there.
We went to another one.
My favorite one.
And enjoyed ourselves some good ol snowies.
Ellen and Jenna came with us and it was the 4 of us reunited again and I've never been so thrilled.
                
We all talked and tried to catch up on each others lives with our top 5 moments of our summer.
It was crazy how different they were.
Jenna lives in Provo and loves it. She goes on a ton of vacations and just parties.
Lynds is in Wyoming transforming into a cowgirl.
Ellen is here, she just got surgery and is a new woman. Deuces.
And I'm here, bored, really not doing anything.

The night was short lived with the 4 of us because Jenna had to get back to Provo. And Ellen has a bed time. 

So Lynds and I went and visited some of our old high school buddies.

This is the SBO Preeeesident. Well was.

This is also where Lynds and I almost became Eskimo sisters...

We love B Rand. We gave him so much crap in high school but it was just tough love. 

We finished by visiting some other friends and then Lynds and I talked in a parking lot until 230 in the morning. Good times.

Saturday we didn't end up seeing each other. Even though we were both in East canyon all afternoon.

Sunday, we went to a farewell and got to see out friends and say goodbye to a few of the new missionaries to head out.

We had naptime then got back together to watch the Bachelorette finale.

Go Jef.

Then we danced and went crazy in the rain. It was so fun.

I can't wait to get back up to Logan and get to hang out with that girl when ever I can.

Thanks for coming to visit breastest Fren!

Day 30

A picture of yourself today and 5 good things that have happened since you started

1. I dyed my hair and got a free scalp massage from that other girl in the picture

2. I became best friends with Ellen and bonded over our missionaries.

3. My family came in town from Texas and we got 2 weeks of craziness with them.

4. Lynds came in town and I finally got to see her after 2 and a half months.

5. I got two weeks off from work and enjoyed my relaxing time.

Phew! I'm done guys! That's it. All in favor of a weekly prompt? Maybe monthly? Instead of daily. That was a lot of work! 

Now what do I blog about....

Day 29

Who is your hero

I'm sick of these being so boring so get ready for some real good heroes.

Kourtney Kardashian. Because she puts up with Lord Dissick all the time. And she made the worlds cutest baby. Mason. 

This guy because he is wearing that. That is awesome and completely hero worthy.

Blair Waldorf because she is absolutely fabulous and she says everything we were all thinking. And because her maid is the funniest. So is a hero for hiring her. Go Dorota.

Charlie. Because he got a golden ticket.

Because he is Chuck Bass...

Nsync because they taught me that it's okay to say Bye, Bye Bye.

These two, because they can find a payphone, steal a buck from a duck, remember an entire letter word for word after one time of reading it, and play the bagpipes.

Because he is that hot.

RIP Shampoo

This weekend I went on a date with my good friend Peter and we spent the day on the Lake! It was a blast. We got there and walked over the this big rock and decided to swim around for a while. We all get in with our pool floaties and just enjoyed the water. Freezing, mucky, rocky and all.

This was my floaty. His name is  was Shampoo. Later in the day, Peter laid on him on the rocks and he popped. RIP.

We hung out on the beach then decided to take the venture and climb the rock to jump off.

It wasn't super easy to climb the rock but we did it. Once we got up there, we realized how high it really is and we got way nervous.

But eventually, literally probably after ten-fifteen minutes we both jumped.

It was terrifying. It was thrilling. It was unreal. But now, I can check that off my Bucket list! Check.

We jumped off again together then headed back to the camp for lunch and games.

We had some yummy sandwiches and fruit, treats, Lemonade, chips, just everything.

Then we played this game called Compatibility.

Basically you played on teams against the other teams. It was like apples to apples. You were given a topic then everyone had a deck of cards that we had to pick a certain number of the cards that fit the describing word. The point was to pick the same cards as your partner. Even put them in the same order! Me and Peter were too good at this game surprisingly. We thought we would lose for sure but we rocked it. We act too much alike that's why. 

We went back over to the Lake so Peter and his brother Benji could jump off one more time. 

   

Yes, he is doing a backflip.

It was such a fun day and we got everything packed up and got back on the road just in time for the rain to start. I'm glad I got my adrenaline rush and had such a fun day at the lake. Thanks Peter!

             

Day 28

What Stresses you out

• When people don't listen
• When I try to people please too many people at one time
• When people think that I owe more of my time to them
• school
• No, not school, more like Math
• Math
• Math 
• And Math
• Not getting enough sleep (like this weekend)
• Being treated like I'm younger then I am
• When people tell me "you don't understand..."
• My future and what I'll do
• That people make you plan that 
• Planning things
• Being in charge of a large group
• Feeling inadequate
• Public Speaking
• Earthquakes
• Anything that could possibly hurt me like big adventures, adrenaline things
• Basically life.
• Being 19 and having adult life begin all at once
• Money. That is a good one.
• Parents who don't think I'm responsible, mature, smart, or can take care of myself
• So yes, Life stresses me out

Day 27

Photo of your city

Good ol Salt Lake. 

Technically I live in Sandy but the only thing I could get a picture of in Sandy was La Caille. 

But most of the year, I live here..

Oh Logan. How I love thee. 

Both of these places are where my homes are. 

How blessed I am at this time to have 2 homes to live. 

Day 26

Your Dream Wedding

Oh my heck you guys. Do you know how hard this is for me to do? All I know is I've thought about what my wedding will be like since I was like 8 but when I do get engaged it will probably still take me 6 months to have everything perfect. But there is no way I will have a 6 month engagement. In all reality it will be 3 months and I will have to pull off a miracle with all of this stuff. It's a big day and you want it to be perfect forever. So lets begin...from the beginning.

Engagement.

It must be a surprise. If not, that is no fun. Yes I'm sure I'll know I want to marry the boy and we'll talk about it. But I do not want to know it's coming. I would love it if the boy would ask my Dad. Not only is it a courtesy, it is pretty dang cute. I don't care if he proposes in public or just us. But again, I don't want to know. And it would be cute if there was a photographer there to capture the moment but I'm not going to be completely upset if there isn't. We'll remember.

 

The Ring.

I want HIM to pick it out. Honestly I don't care what it looks like. Yeah, I have stuff I like but I want to like it because he picked it out and it reminded him of me. That's all.

Engagements

Okay guys, Is it sad that this is like one of the things I'm most excited for when I get married. Engagement picture are always the cutest. And I refuse to not let mine be cute. Really. I want ours to be fun and cute. I don't want them to be posed and stuff like here, "stand there and gaze into each others eyes and prove to everyone you love each other" No. I want to just get candid's that prove that. Plus a wedding is proof enough right?! But mine have to be cute. HAVE TO. 

Season

It HAS to be warm. Therefore I would need a proposal in like March/April and we could get married June/ July-ish. I could deal with a May or April Wedding but that makes it hard with school.

The Dress

This is also one of the things I'm most excited about for the wedding. I always thought I would have a huge poofy princess dress but I decided in the last year that I want it to be more simple then that. Lace, Lace and Lace. It was flare at the bottom but will be form fitting everywhere else. Sweetheart neck and probably 3-quarter sleeves, and definitely to the ground. Now can someone find that for me?

Bridals/Groomals

As much as I thought I would wait for the Groom to see me in my dress until the day. I really don't think I will. Since I can't get married in the dress anyway, we might as well see each other before and get cute pictures out of it. I want to have the reveal photographed. And our pictures will be more calm then engagements. They will be formal because we are in our formals.

The Big Day

It WILL happen here. No choice.

Bridesmaids.
As of now, you would be Mallory=Maid of Honor. She's my sister so I wouldn't have it any other way. Others if they oblige? Jenna Sorensen, Ellen Peterson, Lyndsey Daniels, Jenna Curran, Sarah James? Possibly more depending how many guy friends my husband has... But it will be even.That is my invite girls so if you'd like to be apart of it. Stay my friend. If not run away. They will be in short colorful dresses but they will all like them and look good.

Pictures on the day

They can be more fun. Everyone is there, we are so happy and excited. We'll do picture with everyone, I'm pretty sure I'll make my bridesmaids wear their dresses to the temple. Sorry, not sorry. I just want their to be enough good pictures. I want to posed ones but also the candid ones that are always adorable. Is their a photographer out there that wants to undertake my wedding? :)


Colors
Oh boy, This one is hard. I always thought I would want Red, black and white. But my sister has made it obvious those colors do not go well with summer. Then it would be Pink and green but I'm not sure my husband would love that. I could live with either of these.
 

Bridals/ Groomals on the day
These will but cutsy, romantic and fun. We are married for heaven sakes!! I want the popular poses and spots around the temple but then just some fun ones while we are hanging out.

I had to put them in my post because really, just make her dress long and I'll take their wedding. Kthanks. 

The rest of the day..

I don't care. I mean that is for like before the reception. The luncheon and what we do in between, I don't care. That part I'm not picky about because that is more for the families and stuff anyways so that can be whatever.

Reception

It will be outside but not in my backyard. If it has to be inside then it will be somewhere nice and meant for these things, not in a church. But most of all it will be fun!! I want people to enjoy their selves. It's our happiest day and your sharing it with us so you should be happy too! We'll have good food, treats, and whatever! I will smash the cake in my husbands face, we will dance to every dumb song out there, and I'm going to dance and enjoy myself. Then we will leave with sparklers. I love sparklers so they have to be there.

Videography.

Oh my heck guys. Wedding videos are the most amazing things to even happen to this world. I will have an "Our story one" A bridal/Groomals one, and the day of. So a big job to undertake again but I only get this day once so I want to be able to relive that whenever I please. Okay? I watch video's religiously and already have my songs picked out and everything. That's how serious I am about this. This will be my favorite part.

Want to fall in love with videos like me? Follow Haugen Creative or Hailey Haugen on Vimeo. She is my idol.

Honeymoon

It will be somewhere tropical. I thought I'd want to go to Paris but I don't. Not for my honeymoon. And all those haters on honeymoons, I WILL be leaving my room and doing fun things okay?! I am determined. How many times will you get to go on a vacation with your husband and only your husband?! So yes, I will just need a beach. Hawaii, Cali, Mexico, Bahamas, any of those will do. :)

There you go guys. Now you know I'll be the most high maintenance brie ever and that is okay with me. You can be on your day. I love weddings and I literally get more excited for mine every day. So it is going to be off the chain! Get excited. Until then, I'll continue planning and this will probably all change...