human nature

"Human nature is disposed to do good, just as water flows downward.  There is no man that does not show this tendency to goodness." 
-Mencius

mom, hide the vitamins

As I innocently opened the pantry for a calcium/magnesium supplement, I came across marvel heroes "gummies" vitamins.  Tried one of these little babies, and then went back for a handful...

How do kids not OD on these things?!

2011 scrapbook (part 1)

Here are some of the fun, happy, wonderful things that happened this year.  And yes, I'm posting pictures :) finally!  I'm sorry I didn't post pictures more throughout the year.  This makes up for it. :D


January: Back to Brigham Young University (in Provo, Utah) after a semester-long study abroad in Jerusalem.  The study abroad was INCREDIBLE but it's good to be back at BYU, too.  I move into an apartment with two amazing women, Elise and Ariel.

February:  School, school and more school.  And temple trips with roommates :)

Elise, Ariel and me outside the Provo temple

March: School continues.  (I love my classes and my professors!)  Ariel and Elise keep the white-board lively with important reminders ;)

Ariel writes inspirational messages and Elise illustrates

April: Mom celebrates her 51st birthday! Ariel, Elise and I attend general conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Winter semester ends at BYU and I stay for spring term.  

Me, Elise, Ariel at the conference center
with the beautiful Salt Lake City temple in the background

May: The weather warms up and I enjoy hiking with friends.  School continues, so I enjoy long days of reading homework outside on our apartment's small balcony.  Also, my hair goes platinum blonde after hours in the salon with one very tenacious hair stylist (Amy, thank you!!) and I've finally done just about everything I've ever wanted to do with my hair (besides dreadlocks).  Platinum blonde was the last thing on my to-do list--which included blue, pink, and yellow colors over the years--and a fohawk.  How I miss the fohawk...  

More importantly, my cousin, Christy, gets married!  Uncle Chance and Aunt Diane come to visit from Colorado.  And Kaitlin turns 18!  

Hiking in rock canyon with Megan and Debbie

My blonde hair

Reading Austen's Persuasion

Me, Uncle Chance, Kait, Shalane

June:  The spring term ends.  More hiking in beautiful Utah before I head home to Idaho for the summer.   My family picks me up from school and we head down to St. George, Utah, to enjoy family time before my mom's back surgery.  We have a great time!  One of the highlights is Zion National Park.

Hiking with my good friend, Mary, who got married shortly after this hiking trip.
 So happy for her!

I love these mountains


My sisters and me in Zion National Park

My dad and sisters in Zion National Park

July: Ariel comes to visit me in Idaho and we enjoy 4th of July celebrations together.  We also throw Shalane a surprise 16th birthday party!  Later in July, Mom and I head to Utah for mom's surgery.  A few days after the surgery, my mom and I head back to Idaho and Grandma Walters comes from Michigan to visit to help out.  We love having her with us.  (My mom is still in a lot of pain, but doing somewhat better.  We're not sure what will happen next, but she keeps a positive attitude and keeps her spirit of love and joy.  She is my hero!)

Shalane at her party.  Yes, she wore the funny hat we gave her (for a little while) :) 

Kait and friends enjoying good food and good company

Ariel and me mixing virgin drinks.  

The vitamix came in handy for this!

Grandma and Kip

August: On a whim, I have my hair dyed to a light brown color.  I fly to Kentucky to visit my Grandma Carson for a week, and we have a lovely time together.  I enjoy spending time with old friends and visiting places from my childhood. I then get to go to Michigan to visit my family there.  Shalane meets me in Michigan and we enjoy time with our family.  Uncle George and Aunt Kelly graciously take us on their road-trip out to Ohio for a wedding.  We enjoy getting to know our family better (we miss them here in Idaho!) and we visit great places, including D.C. and Virginia beach.  The highlight of our trip is our stay in North Carolina, where we enjoy days of beautiful beaches and wildlife.   

Shalane and me outside the D.C. temple

Shalane, me, Uncle George flying a kite
in Nags Head, NC (we love it here!)

Moon jellyfish 

Me and Shalaney enjoying a beautiful beach at Nags Head

Aunt Kelly and me up for sunrise

Aunt Kelly and Uncle George

Me, Shalane, Uncle George at one of the best places I've eaten 

Shalane enjoying an evening walk

We stopped on the way to Ohio to enjoy a short hike and view of the Appalachian Mountains

Aunt Kelly and me

With Grandma Walters on Gun Lake (in Michigan)

Shalane and Grandma Walters

Me, cousin Tyson, Shalane

Later in August: I apply to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I enjoy time with my good friends the Weimer family; Shalane begins school and we attend her first cross country meet of the seasons (the "mud run"); Kaitlin and I head back to Provo for Kait's freshman year and my junior year (what?!) of college.  And, of course, my hair color changes again to a very dark, rich brown.  Thanks, Amy. :)

Rees cooking breakfast (she is a pretty impressive 7-year-old)

Kait and one of Sammy's dogs
(Sammy's cute doggies invade our household one day.
Our cats freak out a little--but we love them!)

Krew and Kendyl

The Weimer children and me (minus Krew)  

The new dark hair color 

Me, Shalane, and Kait at the XC mud run--taken BEFORE the muddiness begins :)

September: Back to Provo for school, again living with dear friends Ariel and Elise, but this time we have a new roommate: Ariel's cat, Kalamazoo (or "Kali").  She is a diva and we love her.  I (not-so-patiently) wait to receive my mission call in the mail.  In the meantime, I begin a wonderful semester. A few weeks later, my call comes and there is (much) rejoicing!! I find out I'm leaving in February and I'm going to Tampa, Florida--and it's a Spanish-speaking mission--YES!!!!

Kali assuming her most comfortable position--and making herself quite at home--in my bedroom

Different family members and friends guess where I might go on my mission.  

Both Shalane (aka "Boohbah") and Dad guess correctly!  I'm going to Florida!! 

Kait and me holding my mission call :D :D :D

out with the old, in with the new

What a year!  While it's not good to be obsessed with the past, it's beneficial (and fun!) to look back to see what I've learned and also to recognize the abundance God has given me.  It's been a year of great opportunity, great fun, and great discovery and learning.  I have everything to be thankful for.  This year has been the best of my life--and perhaps the most important--thus far. I've been endowed with God's blessings.  I've failed in some respects, but the failures have brought much-needed learning.  And I know that along with the failures, I've also enjoyed accomplishments, all with God's help.  I look forward to this new year, to new experiences, to changing for the better in 2012!

Out with the old, in with the new.  Tennyson wrote so well:  

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

Happy New Year

I hesitate to make New Year's resolutions.  But the following movie clips have planted some important thoughts in my mind, and I'm so inspired that I might just make some resolutions based on these ideas.  The first clip is from the film "The Tree of Life" and the second clip is from the film "Another Earth."

my team

"In my life I have only in recent times consciously built a support team. For most of the last two decades, my inner mantra has been some crazy idea that I can do it on my own. Some heroic and impossible delusion. Finally I have woken up to this...the joy of life is doing things with great people. Partnering, supporting others, getting supported. Putting your hand up, asking for help, building a team...Solo is an illusion and just plain silly." -Christine McDougall


Christine got me thinking about various teammates of mine over the years.  Here are just a few.  I am so grateful for them!