Little Sister

A happy birthday for the little sister! She turned 17 yesterday! She may be young but she sure is taller than me. I can't believe we've gone from this

to this.

So here's to never being able to find my clothes. Here's to finding them on her bedroom floor. Here's to late night movies in bed. Here's to doing each others hair. Here's to little sisters.

The Lord Will Magnify You

Today my mission prep teacher, Brother Brad Wilcox, was late to class. But I was perfectly fine with it when I saw who he brought with him. It was President Russel T. Osguthorpe, the LDS General Sunday School President. Yes it was this man: 

He talked to us about missionary work and how it was "the most rewarding time" of his life. He began to talk about how it is not an easy job to do but that "If you reach out and do everything you can, then the Lord will be willing to magnify you." He mentioned examples of how we can do this in our lives. "It does not matter your personality...He will magnify you." Osguthorpe then mentioned examples from the Book of Mormon, more specifically the example from Alma 26-27 with Ammon. It is a great story where the people are magnified and strengthened for their efforts and their faith in Jesus Christ. President Osguthorpe then related this to our lives telling us that "The Lord will give unto you success. In no matter what it is that you are trying to do. Missionary work, school, carreers, families. He will give unto you success." 

Oh how blessed we are to be able to listen to the wise counsel of modern day prophets, seers and revelators. 

To read President Osguthorpe's talk from the latest General Conference click here

Children of the Corn

Bestie and I went to Cornbelly's last weekend for a corn maze. We had a blast! Every year Cornbelly's has a theme for their corn maze. This year? Presidential elections. At the beginning of the corn maze, you get to chose if you want to go through Obama or Romney. It was so funny hearing everyone's comments throughout the maze saying, "I should have chosen Romney/Obama" whenever they got lost. People yelling "Obama you are so confusing!" Pretty much it was a great night with great people. 

The bestie and I also took a picture trying to look as evil as possible, because we're children of the corn. 

Bestie also posted more pictures on her blog http://samswizzle.blogspot.com/2012/10/double-double.html

The Dance

Little sister went to Granger's Homecoming Dance a few weeks ago.
Here's a question for all readers:
How many people does it take to pin on a boutineer?

Answer: 6 and it still didn't stay. She ended up just safely placing the boutineer in his pocket. 

Homecoming

So yes my friends and I still go to our high school's homecoming game. Our Alma Mater is being torn down this summer, so we wanted to go get a few pictures in front of the high school before it's gone. I hadn't really been back to our high school since I graduated and it was very interesting being back. A flood of memories washed over me.

Cheerleading on the field. Homecoming Royalty. Got Milk photoshoot. FBLA meetings. Crush sodas for Valentines. Coca Cola tours. Long bus rides. Even longer bus rides when the football team lost a game.

Countless times of missing class with the bestie. The musicals. Madrigal performances. Cheerleading competitions. Sadies with Manu. Braces. Christmas season. 

6 AM cheerleading practice. Mr Granger Performances. Seminary Council. Painting the Seminary Shield. Making Seminary videos. Chemistry class with Atkins. Swim meets. 

G-Rides with Manu and Nate. Skyroom performance when Ty got drunk. The boys getting arrested. The boys coming back and talking about the horrible jail food. 

Dances with the räpêr. Going to business conventions with the bestie. UBW. Girls State. The bestie and I were given the wrong topic for our business presentation. Senior class farewell assembly. Lots of laughter and tears. The list could go on and on.

It's amazing how things have changed, but I guess that's what happens with time. You move on to bigger and better things. 

A Bicycle Built For Two

One of the coolest guys I know got home from his mission in Panama a few weeks ago. I met Jason six years ago at EFY. We've stayed in close contact during those past few years. So after not seeing each other for two years we decided to go on a tandem bike ride. Best idea ever. The weather was perfect (I was worried that it would rain on us because you never know what will happen with Utah weather). And the views were gorgeous. We biked up the Provo Canyon Trail and saw the leaves changing colors.

It has been funny to have him back home and still being in missionary mode. He speaks in English the majority of the time, but every once in a while he will great a random stranger with an "Hola" or "Buenas." He may be white on the outside, but he is Panamanian on the inside. 

Birthday Time

Hooray for more family birthdays! Today is my mommy's birthday.
So Happy Birthday Mom. Can't wait to see you this weekend.

Thanks for always being there for me, letting me post this picture of you on the internet and for being the best mom ever. 

Bienvenidos a Tejas!

Today Elder Manu Mulitalo leaves the MTC after 8 and a half weeks. He reports to the Texas McAllen mission today and I could not be any prouder. 
I won't lie, one thing that can always brighten up my day is getting a letter from him... in Spanglish. I can't wait until he sends pictures of him next to some little 4'11 Mexican that he baptized. 
Here's to the next 22 months of his mission.
Do great Elder Mulitalo and make me proud.