Sunday, October 3, 2010

General Conference

General Conference is always a treat for us. We love spending Saturday and Sunday listening to the words of the prophets together. Their messages from God are always personal, inspiring, and uplifting. They speak the words that we need to hear, and only God could have given them those inspired messages.

President Uchtdorf counseled us to slow down and focus on the essentials. There is more to life than increasing it's speed. We would all do well to slow down a little in our lives.


Many of the messages this conference have focused on agency and faith. God wishes us to act for ourselves and not to be acted upon. We are accountable for our choices. Elder Christofferson taught that "it is naive to suppose we are not accountable to God." We can build our faith and trust in God by learning of Him and developing a personal relationship with Him through pray and scripture study. President Eyring taught us that our trust in God will bless our lives and our families, and even the nations of the world.

Many of the messages were about raising and strengthening the youth of the church. Sister Wixom taught us to hold on tight to our children and walk with them along the straight and narrow path of righteousness. She also taught us that the world will teach our children if we do not, so we need to take advantage of every teaching opportunity.

Our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, gave a moving talk on gratitude and service. Gratitude unlocks the windows of heaven and is one of the noblest of virtues. We should not focus on what we lack but rejoice in that which we have.

We are so grateful to have living prophets upon the earth today! We are so grateful for the restored gospel and the many blessings it brings into our lives. And we are most grateful to our Savior, Jesus Christ, for His atoning sacrifice and for His perfect example to us.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Chilean Independence Day

Season Premiere of Star Wars: Clone Wars Season 3


Friday night was the season premiere of Star Wars: Clone Wars Season 3. And yes, we are Star Wars nerds (PE more so than ME). Our friend Tyson (another Star Wars enthusiast) came over and watched it with us. It was a great season premiere, and if you ever wonder what we are doing Friday night, we will be watching the newest Star Wars cartoon. Then we stayed up until 2 am talking (mostly PE and Tyson talking while I waited semi-patiently to go to bed). Tyson stayed the night so he could celebrate Chilean Independence Day with us.

Chilean Independence Day: Sept. 18

One of our traditions is to celebrate Chilean Independence Day. Every year we invite friends over and cook delicious Chilean food. PE served his mission in Chile and even before we were married he would celebrate Chilean Independence Day.



This year we made meat empanadas, cheese empanadas, and completos. A completo is a Chilean hotdog, but sooooo much better than an American hot dog (enough so that I will actually crave a completo although I hate hot dogs). It is a fried hot dog smothered with deliciousness in a real hot dog bun. Typical things we smother our hot dog with include: guacamole, mayo w/ lime, tomatoes, hot sauce, ketchup, mustard.

Empanadas are another delicious treat. They take a lot of effort to make, but they are worth it. We only make them once a year, and I am already craving them again.


¡Delicioso!

It was fun to share our Chilean food with friends. We had a good turnout this year, everyone we invited showed up! It was fun to visit with old roommates and friends.

All in all it was a great weekend. The only downside was that laundry didn't exactly get done...oh well!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Summertime

This is my first experience with blogging, so I decided to try uploading a picture. This summer it has been fun for us to be close to our little nephew. We get to hang out with him once or twice a week, and we have become good buddies.
He seems to have a thing for blondes, which is probably why he likes us so much. We will miss him when we go back up to Logan for school.