Just a seed: August 2013

Well I am now officially down to three days! Whew sooooo crazy how fast time has flown. These last few weeks have been a whirlwind of an adventure. I am so sad to have left all of my friends in DC but I am so thankful for the time I have had since then to spend with my family. On my way to Idaho I got to see my wonderful girlfriend Kelsey. We have been great friends since High school and I cherish each time I get to see her no matter the length of time. This specific trip was just one lunch but none the less so glad I got it. I also got to meet my new friend Kassi! She is going to the same mission and enters the MTC the same day as me. It was awesome to meet her because we may get the chance to be companions at some point! After that my Awesome brother Bryce and I road tripped it up to St. Anthony Idaho. I am sooooo glad I got to see my sisters and their kids. I have missed them so much. They are all soooo cute, I am definitely sad that I will not get to meet my newest little niece Lennox until after my mission. But.... I did get to spend about three days with my adorable little ones.

While in Idaho I had the opportunity to go through the Rexburg Idaho Temple. What a great experience. I am so thankful that I got to share that experience with my family. It was also very sentimental to be back in Rexburg a year after graduation. DC fit me so well and I loved my time there but there was something so nice about returning to Rexburg. I really felt like I was returning home. The drive back to Oregon was not as enjoyable seeing as I had to say goodbye to my sisters and their families. :/

Immediately following our trip to Idaho I got to go camping with my family! I got to meet my sweet new sister in law and spend some time getting to know her. I loved our camping trip. We went to Timothy Lake. It was soooo beautiful! It was a little stressful to not truly unpack for about 2 weeks though ha ha. I guess I should get used to living out of a suitcase sometime soon ha. But I finally got home from camping and I got to unpack. Yay!

Since our camping trip I got to spent quite a bit of time with my mom prepping for my mission. She has been a miracle working helping me get everything ready. She has helped to hem skirts, go to eye glasses appointments, and get all the odds and ends of packing squared away. I honestly could not do it without her. I am really glad for the individual time I have had with her though. She will be the one updating my blog while I am on my mission. so any further updates that are on here will be coming from her.

I also got to go to the temple a few time with my family while I was home and that was such a treat as well. I got to go once with my friend Lauren and Kelsey's mom Tarri. I love those women soooo much and It was great to be able to spend a day with them in a place so filled with the Love of our Father in Heaven.

I gave my farewell talk this last Sunday and I feel like it was a huge success! I didn't get nervous like I thought I would and instead I actually enjoyed it. Granted I definitely choked up at the end which made it hard to talk ha ha, but I loved my topic and I really enjoyed studying it. I wished that I had a typed out talk that I could put on here for everyone to read but I just made an outline and let the spirit guide the rest. I honestly believe that Is why I felt so good about it. I know that I did my best to study and leave the rest to the Lord. I am so excited to leave in just a few short days. The time is flying by so fast but I know I am where I need to be right here and right now and there is so much peace in knowing that.

Come what may and love it :D