She Dreams of Evergreens: January 2015

January 31, 2015

Teaching With The Sister Missionaries

The sister missionaries text me and asked if I would like to help them teach a lesson to one of our less active Young Women. I had never gone with the sisters to teach a lesson before and was super excited to have the opportunity to join them!

We talked about the Plan of Salvation, the 4th Article of Faith, and the sacrament. The sisters shared something that they had recently learned about the sacrament that I had never heard before. They asked if we knew why the sacrament is covered with a white cloth before it is blessed. I had never thought about this before and found myself stumped. They proceeded to share with us that it is symbolic of Christ in the tomb. I thought that was super fascinating.

The overall discussion went very well. I feel that I got to know this particular girl in our ward better and I hope she will continue to come back to church.

January 29, 2015

Unbroken

I finished reading Unbroken about a week ago. It is hard to put into words just how moving this book is. Unbroken tells the story of Louis an Olympic athlete who was held as a prisoner of war in Japan during WWII. Life wasn't easy for Louis and at times he wanted to give up, but failure wasn't as option. Through Louis' experiences, we learn just how powerful the human mind is. This book is a definite must read!

January 11, 2015

Fort Bragg, California

We spent a day in Fort Bragg and had a lot of fun! The weather was great and the beaches were beautiful! We went to two different beaches. The first beach had a nice boardwalk and tide pools for exploring. We showed Tanner little crabs and tried to get him to poke a sea anemone with us, he poked one and it sprayed water at him. I don't think he liked that very much.

Tanner on the boardwalk.

Andy showing Tanner a sea creature.

More exploration.

Andy, Trent, & Tanner.

The next beach we went to was called Glass Beach. Back in the day a dump site was located where the beach now is. Clean up efforts have been made for many years to preserve the tide flats. There is a lot of old rusty metal along the tide pools and things like sea anemones have a hard time surviving and the watery takes on a rusty hue. The old dump site though is where all of the glass comes from that makes the beach beautiful!
We really enjoyed looking at all of the beautiful glass!

Glass Beach.

Glass!

Tanner and Kirsten.

Trent.

Me, Tanner, & Andy.

We spent the evening playing mini golf with the crew (Trent, Kirsten, Tanner, Andy, & me) and had a blast! We'll just say we had to get some more balls, ours ended up in the water and flying over the fence. Opps!

Kirsten and Tanner.

He knows where the ball is supposed to go.

Trent.

Trent. Andy is cheating in the background.

I wish we had another day or two to spend in Fort Bragg. I guess that means we will have to make a trip down there sometime in the future.

On our drive home we stumbled across Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox. Some reason I seem to recall seeing these guys when I was younger...

Farewell California! You were good to us!

January 10, 2015

The Redwoods

We spent a few days in Fortuna, California with Trent, Kirsten, and Tanner. Why Fortuna? To see the Redwood Forest of course!

The first few redwoods we saw driving into California were impressive but they were nothing in comparison to the redwoods we were about to see. The Redwood Forest in AMAZING! In fact, it is breathtaking.

Beauty.

Andy.

Me.

Kirsten, Tanner, & Trent.

Tanner, Me, & Kirsten.

Andy & Me.

Andy - he loves climbing things.

Me & Andy.

Me.

Me, Andy & Tanner -- he wanted to be in the picture with us. Love them both!

You can't tell from this picture but we barely fit through this tree.

We found some cute tree houses to play in.

This one was two stories.

Me & Andy.

Love him!

As you stand in the forest it is absolutely silent. The trees are so big and it is so dark that the forest seems void of animal life. When you look up you can't see the tops of the trees, they seem to go on forever (in reality though they are 400 feet tall). And the trees are so big around! It's crazy!

I'm so glad we were able to make the journey to see the redwoods. The redwoods are something everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.

*After looking at all of these photos, I think it's time we start saving for a better camera. These pictures don't do the redwoods justice.

January 9, 2015

Ringing In The New Year, Tree House Style

When we moved to Oregon, we left some of our best friends behind in Utah. Our friends are one of the things we miss most about Utah. As we were getting ready to part ways, we talked with Trent and Kirsten about getting together at Christmas time as they would be in California for the holidays.

Somehow luck was on our side and our schedules all aligned perfectly and we were able to spend several days with our friends. We all got together New Years Eve and rang in 2015 in a tree house, yes you read that right, a tree house!

The tree houses are about 30-40 feet above the ground and are connected by a series of swinging bridges. The tree houses have power and running water. When someone walks on the bridges, you get the feeling you are in a boat because the tree house starts to sway.

Looking up at the tree houses.

View from our front door.

The lodge -- check out that moss!

Picnic tables.

The tree houses were really cool and Andy and I really enjoyed them that is until our water froze and the power went out. Did I mention it was 25 degrees out?

The water freezing wasn't too bad. Who needs showers right?

The next morning though there was a power surge in the lodge and the toaster caught on fire and the fridge started smoking. Next thing we knew, our heaters and lights shut off. No heat and cold temperatures made for a very cold morning.

We spent the morning swinging on giant swings, playing frisbee golf, ziplining, and trying to keep from freezing.

Dancing to stay warm.

Me, Andy, Tanner & Trent.

Me & Andy.

Trent & Andy -- they are brothers at heart.

Tanner & Kirsten.

Andy & Trent.

Tanner & Andy -- Tanner loved the frisbees.

Overall we enjoyed our time at the treesort. Would we do it again? In the winter? No. In the summer? Maybe, it's a lot more expensive to stay there in the summer.

January 7, 2015

2015 New Years Resolutions

When I start to think about a new year approaching, I get giddy with excitement! A new year just does something to me. Maybe it's that feeling of starting over, getting a fresh start, and a desire to improve that gets me. Whatever that feeling is I absolutely love it!

I have always been passionate about setting and achieving goals, I love the feeling of achievement and accomplishing something hard that I set out to do.

This year broke my goals up into 5 different categories:

1. Mind
2. Financial
3. Spiritual
4. Physical/Health
5. Other

Then I went to the store and bought a cute binder and some dividers. I labeled the divider tabs for the corresponding categories and then typed up my goals for each category. I inserted some lined notebook paper in each section so I can write my thoughts down about the progress I'm making. I also included a calendar so I can track my goals. -- The missionaries happened to stop by while I was working on this, they thought it was intense.

Something else Andy and I like to do at the start of the year is to pick a theme. The theme is something we focus on and remind ourselves of often. Last years theme was "Face Our Fears" and it was great! We tried so many different things that we were scared of. I'm not gonna lie, some of the things we did were scary but I'm not really scared of much anymore. In fact a lot of the things I was afraid of, I actually really enjoy them now.

Our theme for 2015 is "Carpe Diem." Carpe diem quite literally means "seize the day" and that it what we intend to do. We know how short and precious life can be and we don't want a moment to pass us by where we weren't living life to it's fullest. With this theme come some lofty goals and hopefully some life changing adventures. We have some big things planned and hope that they will go the way we intend...I'm not going to share what those things are quite yet though.

I am looking forward to this year and the changes and excitement it brings with it!

What are your goals in life?

January 4, 2015

2014 In Review

It is crazy to me how quickly time seems to pass by. It feels like just yesterday that I was learning to drive, graduating high school, and starting college. I don't feel any different or any older but many years have gone bye in what seems like the blink of an eye.

That being said, I can't believe it is already 2015! Where did 2014 go?

At the beginning of 2014 we decided that our theme for the year would be "Facing Our Fears." It is our personal belief that living in fear holds people back and keeps them from reaching their true potential. I thought it would be to take a look back at some of the highlights of 2014 and some of the fears we faced.