Catching up!!!!

So I went home last weekend because this wonderful brother of mine had a birthday. The big 29....only one more year before he starts going down the hill......just kidding. I love you Ryan!!!

This lovely Thai girl is going to be my sister in law soon...not sure when. But excited!!! Love her!

And this beautiful lady is going to be my sister in law in November...Ryan's fiance!

I also got to go kayaking in the Newport Bay....such an adventure. I went with a group of church friends including this handsome boy.....Jon Jon.

Getting ready to enter the double kayak aka the "divorce kayak". It is incredible hard to synchronize and work together and steer...definitely works your patience and communication skills.

Here is our big group....so much fun!!!

Got to see the girls of course....always good to see them!

Went to a party for a guy in the ward....he is trying to go on a mission and had a fundraising dinner/party.

Sooo....to show my support along with my entrance fee, I purchased a date with this good gentleman Christian from the ward. We are going to see Savior of the World this weekend....should be awesome!

As you can see I have been having lots of fun, I am excited that the weather is getting warmer and found some awesome friends here in Vegas to continue learning how to kayak.....wait for more fun pictures!!!! Can't wait! This weekend the Elder's Quorum is putting on a bbq and washing the cars for all the RS ladies....what gentleman!!! You better believe I am taking advantage of this one!

A life transforming idea!!

I recently found out about this book while watching the Today show and went that same day to the bookstore to purchase it. Of course the newest editions were not even shelved yet so I had to wait about 20 minutes for them to find the book....but it was well worth the wait.

The next time you have a decision to make and you can't decide, or that big life changing moment comes and the stress of making that decision seems almost too much to bare, use this simple method to help make your decision to take your life on a path that is true to your values and what you really want out of life.

How will this effect me in 10 minutes?
How will this effect me in 10 months?
How will this effect me in 10 years?

I have only begun to read it and I already see how it is helping me make everyday decisions. I also have gained a lot of ideas on how to use it with clients in therapy to assist them in making better decisions and moving toward a life they want to have.

It is so simple, yet so profound. We often get stuck on the 10 minutes and never look at how the things we do now effect us years down the road, or even just months. I hope someone reading this will take my advice and go buy the book, it is only $15 and the newest addition, pictured above, has a great worksheet in the back to really reflect and evaluate your life values so you can more effectively make good decisions that will make you happy.

Delbert came to visit!

My friend Delbert came to visit from California. We have been friends for what seems like forever, but really only like 3 years. He became very interested in my pretty bow bobby pins and wanted to try them on, as you can see in the pic below.

We headed down to the strip to have a little fun and I found a motorcycle to pose on.

Delbert made me pose for this pic, he thought it would be cool because I know what kind of car it is, rather than just taking a picture with a cool looking car. He said it is hot when a girl knows the types of cars. So, yes it is a Ferrari.

Delberts inner child pretending to get arrested by some trooper from Star Wars. He loves this picture.

We went and watched the UFC fight with my friend Lori and her boyfriend Dave who cooked us some great hamburgers and hot dogs and guacamole that Delbert couldn't stop eating. Thanks Dave. Of course I always have to get a picture with Lori when I see her.

Last day in Oz!!!

So my last day in Australia I got a lot in since it wasn't raining, at least not most of the day.

I tried some famous Tim Tams....a must in Australia, they are a delicious chocolate treat that I wish was sold in the states. Bec was kind enough to give me a package of them to take home with me. Thanks bec!!!

Kangaroo just chillin on the side of the road getting his grub on. He was a big daddy....very tall!

So I am lucky I got to keep this pic, my friend Jay and I went to the correctional center (prison grounds) based on a tip from someone that there were lots of kangaroo's grazing on the land. We walked on over to them not knowing we were in restricted area, there was a foot path and everything, next thing we know, a big beefy cop was questioning us and running background checks on us. After about 20 minute of questioning, we were sent on our way. It was quite ridiculous really. Just glad we weren't fined and I got to see some kangaroo's out in the country!!!

Took a walk along the river in the city and took this beautiful pic of the Brisbane Temple across the river. It is so pretty with the cliffs and lit up at night.

View from Mount Coot'tha of Brisbane City...it was overcast and a bit rainy all day so we were lucky to get a few shots this clear of the city.

I am headed to the airport now to return to the States....although I had a whole week of rain, it turned out ok thanks to all the awesome people I got to spend time with. Especially thanks to Jenessa and Joel for letting me stay at their place.....love you!!!

Having fun!

So it has been raining the last 3 days and today it finally stopped but it was still cloudy all day. This is unusual amounts of rain for Brisbane, to the point that they are setting new records....I just wish it had waited until I left. So the beach wasn't even a site to see as you will notice in the pictures below. Due to the recent earthquake in Chile and the storms in Brisbane, the water was brown and really gross!!! I was really disappointed. I will just have to make another trip back someday to see what Australia really has to offer!

I chased the seagulls since I was bored and couldn't go in the water. It was pretty fun.

An huge ugly puffer fish that was washed up on shore.

Last night I went to Bulimba which is a nice little town by the Brisbane river, had some dinner with friends I volunteered with in Romania nearly 4 years ago (who knew we would all reunite in Australia 4 years later) They all live in Brisbane now so it was quite fun catching up with them and remembering our Romanian adventures!! We also headed over to Kangaroo point where the temple is and had a nice walk along the river overlooking the city.




Only a few more days left and not much planned......definitely have to come back and do things right next time!! I am so glad I got to see some old friends and of course Jenessa!!!

Adventures in Australia

So plans for Australia didn't quite go as I thought they would. However, I have done my best to have a good time, despite the rain, and unexpected events, I think so far, I have had a pretty good time.

Coincidentally, our friend Ian Fowles and his band the Aquabats fly to Brisbane on the same flight as me for a band tour. So we went out to lunch with Ian and his friend (Sax/keyboard player for Aquabats) at Nanado's, a delicious chicken place that is super popular apparently.

Jenessa and I got free tickets from Ian to go see him play at the huge Sound Wave event. It is the equivalent of Warped Tour in the states. Anyway, we felt totally out of our element but it was fun to see the Aquabats play again, especially since we used to go see them all the time when we were teenagers.
Here they are playing one of their long time favorites, Martian Girl. Our friend Ian is the Bass guitarist on the far left....the super skinny guy rockin' out!!

So we were so excited because just after the Aquabats finished playing we were able to stop and see Jimmy Eat World play for a bit. I love this band and it was so awesome to get to see them play. There were so many people there it was insane!!!!

I love museums and I went to the Brisbane Museum of Modern Art and saw some pretty cool stuff. This is a figure of Buddha lying down made completely out of stickers. There was just about every sticker you could think of on here.

This tree made out of copper and brass pots and pans from village people somewhere in Asia (I forgot what country) was pretty cool, so big and such an interesting idea for art.

One of my favorites was this VW bug, its like the mansion of VW bugs, totally thought of my friend Jon when I saw this, he lived in his bug for awhile back in the day.

Went to lunch with some beautiful girls. Jenessa and a wonderful Aussie girl Bec and I had a great lunch and then browsed the cute antique shops of Paddington.

We scored some cool finds, including these seriously heavy and horribly uncomfortable prosthetic legs.

Who remembers the trolls?

A very nice lounger from a high social class family, it doesn't look very comfortable but it was surprisingly nice.

So it has been raining for 3 days and that has kind of ruined a lot of plans to fun....not much to do when it rains. We ventured out to the shops today anyway and got soaking wet. Its not too bad though since it is still like 80 degrees outside.

More adventures to come.....

If you ever think life is hard........

Read this book!
And you will realize that life is full of struggles, but there is always a choice of how to react and what to do with that sliver of strength you have left to once again make life worth living.




My mom gave me this book for Christmas and like many books I have read, it really made me think and appreciate all I have been blessed with in life. If you want to learn more about the book or the movement go to http://www.halftheskymovement.org/ Even recognizing and talking about world issues can bring change. It is a lack of knowledge that thwarts change.