My favorite clump of scriptures at this time in my life

I was issued a Facebook challenge by Kiersten, who reads her scriptures consistently every day, to share my favorite scripture.

She hasn't missed a day since she went to EFY at the beginning of June; she is surely an example to me of what I should be doing more often.

Anyway, choosing a favorite scripture is a hard thing to do. So many speak to me at different times.

The other morning during our family scripture time, we were reading D&C 31. It starts out with "Thomas, my son" but as I have learned to liken all scriptures to me, I inserted my own name "Missy, my daughter, blessed are you because of your faith in my work."As we read the rest of the section, I had a powerful feeling of love and approval come over me as the Lord spoke to me in that section. I received a tender mercy of love that morning. I know God lives and loves me as my own earthly father loves me.

The world may say there is no God, but I say otherwise. I cannot deny the miracles, the blessings that have come into my life because of a loving, kind Father in Heaven who showers me with tender mercies every day. I know he understands me intimately. I know he wants nothing more than for me to be HAPPY. And you know what? I am so happy with my life.

There is no greater feeling of joy than knowing your life is pleasing to your earthly parents as well as your heavenly parents.

Life is good!

I've joined THAT bandwagon

I've gone digital and gotten me my first cell phone. Actually when I met with the bishop and accepted the call to be Young Women's president, I told him, "I guess it's time I get that cell phone." He simply replied that it was up to me but that is how the girls communicated a lot.

And he was right.

It's actually been quite fun to figure it out. I've added a few apps. At first I was only wanting a basic phone, none of this smartness stuff. But when I finally narrowed down the plan and who I was going to go with, the phone I ended up with was a basic smart phone. It's simply a go phone where I pay for the minutes I use. Not having a data plan has been wonderful. I don't feel the constant need to update and check in because I don't want to pay the data fees.

This last Sunday I gave a lesson to the girls on digital media. I started off with these quotes by President Kimball and President Eyring:

In 1974 President Kimball said, “I believe that the Lord is anxious to put into our hands inventions of which we laymen have hardly had a glimpse” (When the World Will Be Converted, Ensign, Oct. 1974).

The spiritual strength sufficient for our youth to stand firm just a few years ago will soon not be enough. Many of them are remarkable in their spiritual maturity and in their faith. But even the best of them are sorely tested. And the testing will become more severe. . . . The flow has become a flood and soon will be a torrent. It will become a torrent of sounds and sights and sensations that invite temptation and offend the Spirit of God. It is getting harder and may soon be frighteningly difficult. --Henry B. Eyring, August 2001, CES Symposium

Then we listed all the latest and coolest inventions of the last 10 years which revealed that a torrent of sights and sounds and sensations have truly washed over this generation like never before in the history of world. The world is brighter, louder, and busier.

1993 - Email
1997 - Netflix, growth started in 2002
1999 - Blogger, became mainstream in 2004
2000s - Hi-Def TV, Home theater systems
2001, January - Wikipedia
2001, October - 1^st iPod
2003, October - 1^st Social Networking site (MySpace)
2004, February - Facebook
2004, May - Sony PSP
2005, February - YouTube
2006, July - Twitter
2006, November - Nintendo Wii
2007, June - iPhone
2010, March - Pinterest

2010, April - iPad 
October 2010 - Instagram

Internet: It only communicated 1% of the information flowing through two-way telecommunications networks in the year 1993, already 51% by 2000, and more than 97% of the telecommunicated information by 2007

Texting: November 1995; in December 2009, 286 million US subscribers sent 152.7 billion text messages per month, for an average of 534 messages per subscriber per month

I showed them a video clip from Elder Ballard's CES Devotional in May where he addresses the concerns of digital media. He posed a question to the audience, "Do you have any personal quiet time?" He even brought up the use of scriptures on digital devices which is something I've been struggling with. But he mentioned that the church keeps up with the changing technology and that it's okay to use your scriptures in such a manner but to put your phone on airplane mode so that you won't be tempted to look at the notification that pops up. So I told the girls that if an apostle says it's okay than it's okay but that we should try to follow the guidelines. However, I personally like my old paper scriptures I can mark.

We discussed the need to BE wherever they are. If they are hanging with friends, give them your attention. If you are on a date, give your date your attention. If you're sitting in a church Sunday class, give your teacher your attention. Don't let your cell phone be a distraction.

I challenged them to a digital fast for the next four weeks. This means no digital media (except for school work) for a 24-hour period, one day each week. If they do it, we're going to break our "fast" by having a night out at the movies.

Oh my, did they balk at that. They for sure think they can't do it, but I know they can. I tried it on Monday and found I sure got a lot more accomplished without the distractions of the computer. I loved the quiet and know that the Lord wants to share great things with us, but he needs a quite channel to work with.

There is such a need to make time to be still, to pause, to reflect, to meditate, to ponder, to pray, to really listen. And you know what? It's hard. It's hard to just BE, to just sit and do nothing. The Lord has blessed us with so many great technologies to help do his work on the earth; however "we must be careful not to fall victim to their destructive side. We must not only avoid the base and degrading content some sources contain, but we must also recognize when electronic distractions keep us from quieter, more significant uses of our time. We must guard against becoming so attached to digital devices that we become detached from God." (Scott D. Whiting, March 2010 Ensign)

Bryce Canyon

Since my first half marathon of the summer took us to Bryce, we decided to make it a family vacation.

I was pretty sure it was going to be hot since we would be there the middle of July. Nope. I guess at about 7000-9000 feet it's still relatively cool.

Bryce is B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L! God created one of his stunning masterpieces when he carved out this part of the earth. I absolutely loved the green trees contrasted with the red rock. There is simply nothing quite like it.

We hiked

and hiked to monster faces

and to a waterfall

and played in the stream.

It was even better if you laid down in it.


Our cousins tagged along with us,

we ate lunch on a bench-turned-into-table,

and found very old bristle cone pine trees. Tyler was in love.

I attempted my first selfie

and I think we pretty much wiped everyone out. Well, except maybe Nate.

Look who's taken over

Erik has finally passed me up in height.

This is not a good thing.

Never in my young mother years did I ever think any of my children would one day be taller than me.

He's got his dad in his sights now. And I think Tyler's going down.

Isn't he a good lookin' kid. I love a young man in a suit. Heck, any man in a suit just looks classy.

Two half marathons this summer

Ever since my first half marathon in 2011 I've signed up to run one every summer. It keeps me running. This summer I signed up for two since my running buddy may be out of commission next year.

She thinks she wants to start a family. Sheesh.

Maybe my other running buddy will do one with me. It's no fun to run if no one is there to get early with ya, hang out at the start, train (kind of), finish with ya. My family hasn't been to the last three which is totally okay at this point in the game. I really liked having them there for my first, cheering me on at the end. Everyone needs that on their first. The second was fun to have them there. But now that it's become a hobby, I'm okay not having someone cheer me on at the end, but I do kind of like having SOMEONE to celebrate with. Thirteen miles is a big accomplishment.

And that's where my sisters come in, my running friends.

My first half this summer was Bryce Canyon. I'd never been to Bryce despite living so close my entire life. It turned into a mini-vacation. We rented a hotel room where the race route ran right by it. All my kids had to do was walk a 100 yards to watch me run by. I told them this would be a faster race and that I expected to be there in about an hour and 15 minutes. The only one waiting for me was Jacob who snapped a photo and Nate who ran the remainder with me. 

I loved that he would do that. One of his summer goals was to run a 10k. We never did find a race that worked with our schedules but I definitely count this. It might not have been his race, but it was still a race.

The first two miles of this race was a steep 8% grade. I decided to just let myself go and not hold back. It was a relief when it finally leveled out. I got my personal record on his course . . . 2:14. I give credit to that first two miles. And Katie tells me I was only four minutes behind her. Now that is impressive. I'm never even close to what she runs.

My second half was Mt. Nebo in Payson. Several weeks ago I was talking to some new neighbors who are runners and they let me know that it was a killer course. Mostly downhill and fast. They both PR'd on this course.

Uh oh! They were so right. It was fast and I hurt way more today than I have with any other races. Our stake conference was today in the Conference Center and I wasn't sure I could make the walk from the car to the building. Here's proof I made it.

I was rockin' and rollin' until about mile 10. I remember hitting mile 6 and then being surprised that I was at mile 7 and then was even more surprised at mile 8. It seems I flew down the mountain. I caught up with Katie at around mile 12 and hooped and hollered and danced around (don't know where that energy came from) that I had caught up to her. It was so much fun to run in together. Although I kept stopping to walk and she kept pushing me. We couldn't let the 2:05 pacers beat us. Can you see the pain on my face.

And then I thought here's my chance to finally beat Katie. It's never happened before. I tried holding her back at the finish line . . . 


Yep. She beat me by one second. Maybe even a half a second.

It's so hard to push yourself when there's nothing let to give. It's been a summer for personal records. I smashed my Bryce Canyon PR by 9 minutes, coming in at 2:05. I've shaved off 20 minutes from my Little Grand last September.

I've now run a half marathon for each of my five kids. I'm not sure what next year will bring, but I sure hope I can keep doing one a year at least.

First birthday gift for Tyler

Ty's birthday rounds out our birthdays for the year. Mine begins the year, his ends the year with all the kiddos in between. I guess we are the bookends.

He tried grilling some shrimp, something neither of us have ever done. They weren't too shabby, although the next round we won't cook them quite as long. 

Then we watched his birthday video from last year and continued watching home videos. Man you forget how your kids are at certain ages. I swear I tell myself, "I'll never forget this EVER." But I do. I'm so glad to live in the age of technology where we can keep these things forever.

One of the pictures on Ty's video was this one:

It was the first birthday gift I gave him. His mom had made him a pink quilt the year before (I'm sure it was just fabric she had around and needed to be used) but I felt like he needed a more manly quilt. My roommate Angel Quigley worked at a fabric store with a fancy quilter in the basement of the store. She let me work on it down there and then helped me with the edging.

(Homecoming Dance, Utah State Universtiy, 1995)

Sadly that quilt has seen better days. It has gotten much use and has now been retired.