What an incredible weekend I had

This past weekend was fabulous. I think I'll start with Friday night first:
On Friday night Bergs came over and we made 2 batches of cookies, one chocolate chip and the other oatmeal raisin. After many adventures and baking at least 14 pans of cookies we completed our project and ended up with over 200 cookies. It was a lot of fun!
Saturday came and brought with it a much anticipated 1st round of meetings and other activities held in conjunction with Stake Conference. This Stake Conference was not your ordinary, run of the mill, Stake Conference because, after 9 years of service, President Nelson was to be released and our Stake reorganized. Elder Yoshihiko Kikuchi and Elder Wynn Dewsnup came to Logan on assignment from Pres. Packer to extend a call to the new Stake Presidency. As part of my Stake calling in the Relief Society, I got to help feed the General Authorities on Saturday afternoon. Nettie, Jean, Kristie, and I put together a "not so simple" lunch (as Elder Kikuchi called it) that was held in the High Council room. I made the dessert (Friday night's cookies) and it was a hit. Elder Kikuchi liked the cookies so much that he took one for the road while they went to visit another family before the Priesthood Leadership Meeting. P.S. I fixed him a baggie of cookies which my mom gave to his wife on Sunday afternoon when the Primary took their turn in feeding the General Authorities, etc.
Fast forward to Saturday evening at 7:00 pm. At this time I was sitting in the Stake Center chapel eagerly awaiting the start of the evening adult session of conference. I was not disappointed in the least by the meeting. It was truly amazing and so very spiritual. I could have listened to Elder Kikuchi speak for hours. His knowledge and testimony of the Savior is incredible and I felt the spirit so strongly that night.
Sunday morning was the general session of conference. We arrived in plenty of time to take our seats and see if we could make a guess as to who the new Stake President would be by seeing who had a lot of extended family in the audience. By the time the meeting started, we had nearly decided that they may just call our Stake Patriarch, Lynn Hobbs, to be the new Stake President. We weren't sure if this was possible but would soon find out. After the opening song and prayer, the presentation of names of those to be advanced in various offices of the Priesthood, and the sustaining of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, and other officers of the church, our waiting was finally over. Elder Dewsnup presented the name of V. Lynn Hobbs for our sustaining vote as the new Stake President. His counselors are Aaron Pyfer and Ron Peck. We later found out that permission from the Quorum of the Twelve had to be obtained before the call could be extended to Patriarch Hobbs. Elder Oaks was the one that Elder Kikuchi finally got a hold of to give his approval. So cool!!! I could not be more excited and pleased with whom the Lord has chosen to lead this Stake. The rest of the meeting was so good. Again, I could have listened to Elder Kikuchi speak for hours. But alas, the time drew short and the meeting came to a close. I can't recall a greater Stake Conference. I am thankful for the opportunity to have participated in the reorganization of the Stake and also for the guidance that we received in how to prepare for the Stake Conference. It was truly a wonderful experience.
To top the fabulous weekend off, the Michelles and I got together after conference and took a quick trip to Chubbuck, ID to visit one of our former Primary/Young Women leaders. It was so much fun to spend time with Sis. Steph and her family. They are just adorable. I loved their house and felt so welcome there. They fixed us a delicious dinner and we had a great time just chatting and catching up with each other. Steph even made us cute bags of "party favors" to take home. We had such a great time and know that we'll have to do it again.
I wish I could really put into words the feelings I have about the past weekend. My description does not even do it justice. It was just so incredible!

***Check out my Facebook profile for pictures.

How old are you?

Today I started a new job as an ESL Aide at North Cache. I'm pretty excited about it. It will be a great opportunity for me and will also give me the chance to find out if ESL is the route I want to take for my master's degree. I'll be working with a new student from Haiti, a girl from Somalia, and some other ESL kids in a "tutorial" type class.

Most of my work today involved my Haitian student. He's never been to school so we get to start from the very beginning. We worked on the alphabet for the majority of the time. As we were working I remembered that I have a giant alphabet puzzle from when I was little that I'm going to take with me tomorrow.

Reflecting back on my first day, I feel very blessed to have had the chance to go to some pretty great schools. I had some awesome teachers in elementary, middle, high school and college.  I've taken for granted the fact that I learned to read at such a young age, that I have parents who encouraged me to read, and that I love learning. It's pretty humbling to be able to help someone else gain these skills. I think it was a reality check that I definitely needed and I look forward to tomorrow!

P.S. My student asked me how old I was today. It took me three tries to even understand what he was saying. Life is great!

More bags

My mom and I put together these bags for my aunt in Las Vegas. She's giving them to the ladies she serves with in the Stake YW. I think they turned out pretty cute, don't you?

It's good

It's my lunch hour/prep period so I thought I'd take a few minutes to update my blog. I'm subbing at North Cache today and Thursday for my Geography cooperating teacher. It's fun to be here but a little boring as well. Amy has a student teacher who is with her all day. As a result, I pretty much get to just sit back and observe the goings-on in the classroom. It's probably the easiest money I could make.
Things in life are pretty good I guess. Of course there are always things to complain about, and believe me I have plenty of stuff, but I've also got a lot to be grateful for. I'm trying to keep things in perspective and focus on what I have instead of what I don't. At least it makes me happier that way!
Yesterday I subbed at Intech for one of my former teachers. He had me teach his two American History classes. It went pretty well except for the fact that the classes are an hour and a half and I ran out of material with twenty minutes left in class. Oh well, the kids got some free time which is probably something they don't get a lot of, knowing Dewey. It was fun to be in his classroom but a little weird to not have him there.
I'm pretty excited about my plans for this weekend and it's only Tuesday! Bergs and I've got a great Valentine-ish service project in the works and I hope it turns out like we want it to. It'll be great if it does. We have to work on being "very, very sneaky" but I think we can manage that. We've had some good practice as of late.
So yeah, life's pretty good right now. I've got great friends, a great family, and some awesome vacations in the works that I'm stoked about. Happy Day! 

I can say goodbye to my blogger's block because I've got exciting news!!!

Tonight Bergs and I booked our flight to PERU!!! We are super excited. It's going to be an awesome trip. We've got tons planned so we'll be sooo busy but after all,  how many times do you go to Peru in a lifetime??? Come 15 April (Yes, that's Tax Day to all you procrastinators) we'll be on our way to the land of Llamas. Hot diggity dog!

Blogger's Block

I am currently experiencing a bout of Blogger's Block. I hope it won't last long. Here's hoping to a speedy recovery!!!