Curtis and Emily's Wedding

Adam's brother, Curtis got married on Tuesday to a wonderful girl named, Emily. It was a great day! They got married in the Salt Lake Temple and it was the first temple wedding I have been to other than my own. Then, we had a wonderful lunch at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It was fun getting to know some of Emily's family.  Later that night, we went to Provo for their reception which was beautiful. It was so nice to hang out with a lot of the family and meet some new people. Here are some pictures from the temple.

Back in action..kind of.

The past couple weeks have been interesting since school finished and I have been able to resume a some what normal life. I feel like I have all the time in the world and that I can see my family and friends and do activities that I enjoy! But I have realized lately that I have not had the energy or the want to do all the things I want to. I am just tired and unmotivated most of the time. I also am having a hard time sleeping which has been one of the most frustrating things to me because that was one of the things I was most excited about. I go to bed late and I wake up the minute the sun comes up. WHAT THE HECK! I just don't understand it. I think my body is used to waking up so early every day that that is what it wants to do now. I hope that this is only temporary because I want to be able to enjoy the summer.

 I have also been able to go to church which is weird and amazing all at the same time. I think I only went once during my internship and I hated being away from our primary kids. I didn't want them to forget me. Luckily, I have a great husband and some times I got cards from the kids. Well yesterday, one of the kids that had transferred into our class at the beginning of the year gave me a graduation card. He even spent his own money to get it for me. I couldn't believe it. My heart just melted when he gave it to me especially because he didn't know me all that well. I missed these kids so much and I am so glad that I am still a primary teacher with Adam. =)

Anyway...I hope that I can get back to a somewhat normal schedule because I really want this to be a great summer! There is a lot of exciting things going on especially in my family! Hope everyone is enjoying themselves and Happy Memorial Day. =)

Contemplating

Sometimes I really wish I could think of something creative to blog about.
There just isn't anything too exciting going on in our life.
We've just both been working and I've been going to school.
Boring!
Maybe another day I'll think of something exciting to blog about.
The only thing I can think of is that we had a visit from a missionary that I very much connected with while I was taking the discussions.

Ryan is the one on the left of me.

He came in the first week and everything he said made sense to me. He made he feel really comfortable and didn't confuse me. He answered any question that I had. He also thought that he wouldn't be around much longer because he was due for a transfer. But week after week he came back and it made me very happy. It wasn't until a week or so after I was baptized in August that he was finally transferred. I definitely think he was supposed to be there through my journey. 

Anyway...it was really good to see him for a few hours and catch up! =) 

Day 13

Happy Friday the 13th! 

Today was a great day!

My friend Nikki got baptized into the LDS faith! 

I am super excited about it!

She gave a beautiful testimony that made me cry.

She is going to be going on such a wonderful journey! 

♥

CF News:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20110512/sc_livescience/teendiscoverspromisingcysticfibrosistreatment

This is pretty big! I hope something comes of it! =) 

Also, tomorrow is the CF walk in Ogden! I am pretty excited about that as well!

Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

Day 17

A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently

Being a Primary teacher has definitely had an impact on me lately! It has definitely helped me learn a lot more about the LDS faith. It is so wonderful and I love the kids we are teaching. They surprise me everyday. =)

Talk

So my blog has turned into a Sunday blog it seems. 

Anyway...today, I gave my first church talk.

Our talks were on our experience with the temple.

It was really scary. 

(My legs would not stop shaking)

I had this microphone staring at me and I am surprised that words even came out of my mouth.

But they came out and I could hear the nervousness in my voice. 

Luckily, it was coherent words and I think I made my point.

Adam was giving a talk as well so thank goodness he was there with me. 

I think I might have passed out if he had not been.

And he almost wasn't. 

(He hasn't been feeling well).

I am so thankful that he was feeling well enough to be there with me.

I was probably being a little selfish but I don't think I couldn't have done it without him. 

He is my rock and my miracle. 

It was such a wonderful and scary day. 

I hope everyone else had a great Sunday! 

New Calling Pt. 2

So it's a little later than 12 PM. Thanks for waiting! 

As you read in my last post, Adam and I got a new calling in church this past week!

And we are....(drum roll, please)......

Primary Teachers!!!! 

If you don't know what Primary is, I found a definition on lds.org that might help explain it better.

Primary is:

The organization of the Church for children from ages three to twelve. Beginning at three years of age, children receive two hours of religious instruction each Sunday. One hour is spent with a teacher who provides a lesson for an age-specific group, and a second hour is spent in a combined group of children in instruction and singing.

We will be teaching 5 year olds! 

I am so super excited and nervous all at the same time. 

It will be a good chance for me to learn but I am not sure I am going to be great at teaching.  We'll see I guess.

Today was our first lesson and it was a little rocky but now we have some better ideas on how to be more successful at it.

=D

New Calling!

Adam and I got a new calling in church! 

Want to know what it is?! 

Well too bad. 

I can't tell you until Sunday!

So tune in on Sunday at 12 PM MT Time! 

I'll tell you  then! =)

Church Talk

Sometime in November, our bishop asked me if Adam and I would give a talk. He had a pretty good hold on me as he was shaking my hand so I couldn't say no. He told me that we would be talking in January and we would talk about our experience with going to the temple. I can go on and on about it and I have to consolidate it into 7 to 8 minutes! Oh man.

All I have to say is I am scared out of my mind! 
I guess I will be breaking one of my fears to start off the new year. Gah! 

I am not a big fan of getting up in front of everyone and speaking. I am very glad that we are talking about experiences and not about scripture or anything. Don't get my wrong, I love the scriptures but I don't think I could produce a good talk about it yet. There is still a lot I don't understand about it. So hopefully this won't be too bad. 

Ahh! I hope it goes well. Wish me good luck! 


Here is a cute video of my niece playing with her uncle Curtis. Sorry Curtis. Don't be mad at me for posting this. It is just too cute!

Climbing over mountains

October 27th is the day!!! I will be going here...

I am so excited! I got my recommend and everything! My wonderful mother in law took me to get all of my temple clothes Friday! 

It's amazing how much my life has changed in such a short time and in a couple short days I will be going through the temple to do my endowments. =) I can't believe it.

The next  couple of weeks are going to be busy! 

Halloween parties

School and papers

Temple

Kristina's 23rd birthday

Our first anniversary and sealing

And whatever else might happen.

The next couple weeks will put the cherry on top of my life! =) Yay! 

Changes

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts."


I already posted something earlier but this has just been on my mind the past week or so. I have been thinking about the changes I have made in my life in the past year and a half. Because some of the changes I have made, I have gained new friends, lost old friends, and some of my friendships have been strengthened. I know the changes I have made have shocked a lot of people. Believe me it shocked me too. But you have to understand I was completely unhappy with my life and something had to change. I was lost and had no path to follow. It was the worst feeling. I was spiraling to a very bad place that I didn't want to be in. And yes, converting to the LDS religion was the only thing that could make me happy. I know people don't agree with the religion. I didn't when I moved here but I didn't know the truth about it until I actually spent many sleepless nights researching it. There are feelings I have felt that I can't explain when I am at church or in the temple. But it is the best feeling I have ever felt in my life. It puts me in a happy place and at peace. I can't wait to get my endowments and get sealed to Adam. I guess it just upsets me a little that people can't accept my decision. But then again I guess if they can't then they weren't as good of friends as I thought.
Adam wasn't the reason I converted! (I hear things. I know that is why a lot of people think I did it. Please ask me instead of assuming.) It may look that way but I think I know my reasons and so do most people that have asked me. 
I just want to thank the people who have stuck with me through this process. It has been a blessing. I don't think I am much different. Maybe someone can correct me on this but I do a lot of the same stuff I used to with some modifications. 

I am still Christine and I'd like people to know that. I am just a better, happier version of myself with a different religion.  

I just needed to vent for a minute. Thanks for listening.