Ocean Shores 2011

This past Monday and Tuesday, my family left for a quick trip to the ocean. Derek, my parents, Morgan, and I got in the car around 12:30 and started making our way west.  When we arrived and got checked into our hotel room we were all just setting stuff down and getting organized when Derek looked out the sliding glass doors and said, "What's that?!" Of course, everyone turned and did their best to catch sight of what had caught Derek's attention. It was a doe! She walked carefully through the grass behind the hotel and then started to go down one of the trails heading to the beach. Not too long after, two others joined her.

We were all out on the balcony, and mom decided it would be a good idea to feed them Doritos. They loved them!

After the deer wandered off we decided to take a trip to Dick's IGA, the local grocery store, for some dinner supplies. We had mandarin chicken salad for dinner, one of my favorites! After dinner we all sat down and watched the Mariner's game, I fell asleep, and upon waking up the game playing began! First up was Catch Phrase. It was Mom, Morgan, and I on a team and Dad and Derek on the other. It was a disadvantage to have three on one team, but it was still fun. Once we got tired of that game, we played Cranium. I love that game! 

At one point Derek had to draw with his eyes closed, and the object he had to draw was a bottle rocket. I got "firework". And another time, Derek and I drew a "Humdinger" which is where a person on your team has to hum a song without any words or actions. I was the appointed hummer, and the song was "On the Road Again" by Willie Nelson. I only knew a few phrases from the chorus, so I hummed that over and over until Derek finally got it at the last second. I was relieved. 

Later that night Morgan, Derek, and I went down to the pool while Mom and Dad stayed to watch some TV. 

On Tuesday, we all got up, got ready, checked out of the hotel, and went shopping at the little strip mall down the road. After we were done shopping, we went down to the beach to fly kites. Once we were finished there, we went to the slick track. Derek, Dad, and I were the only ones brave enough to face the rain and wind. It was a grand trip. 

Derek trying to help my kite get back up after I had crashed it.

Morgan flying her Barbie kite.

Dad. I'm pretty sure we've had the kite for EVER.

Derek writing his name in the sand. How cute.

Morgan is sad...

...because she crashed her kite.

Surprise, surprise. The Barbie kite is down again!

Dad fetching his kite out of the tall grass.

Dad flying the Barbie kite. I LOVE this picture.

I added the words "Fart On" above Derek's name in the sand, just as a good wife would.

Morgan doing her best to get Barbie airborne once again.

Dad's kite, lost in the grass.... again.

So he gave the controls to Mom.

"Wait, I need to get my hair out of my face!" Click! "Oh, okay."

Derek and I tried a million pictures but I either cut his head off or I was barely in the picture at all. It makes taking pictures difficult when there's a height difference of over a foot.

I like this one though.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a wonderful trip!

Always Something Good

The wonderful weather we endured.

The past hour has been filled with thoughts of how I haven't gotten anywhere concerning a particular goal that I work toward almost every day. I work so hard, doing my best to do all I can to get where I want to be... and yet I see the same thing every day. The same thing! I have been working toward this goal since I was probably about 14 years old. And here I am at 21 with almost no progress. At some points I ask myself why I continue to work so hard. The only reason I persistently try to progress is because the idea of what would happen if I stopped makes me sick.

So here I am. Trying my best to achieve this goal and feeling like I'm never going to get there. It's a little more than frustrating! But on the up side, I had a wonderful mini-vacation with my husband and family on Monday and Tuesday. We went to Ocean Shores and flew kites, browsed the shops, and rode the slick track! There's always something good to trump the bad.

Moth-Eaten

I have felt that lately my blog posting has been lame. That they have become like that one sweater your grandmother gave you for Christmas when you were ten years old. You are now 35 and yes, it is still in your closet. What is it now? Moth-eaten. That is what my posts have become lately. Moth-eaten. 

This may bring questions to all of your minds, wondering if moths have been literally eating away at the creative literary center in my brain. I can assure you all that nothing of the sort has been happening. Maybe my amygdala has been overactive lately and has been filling me with feelings of disgust and anger towards the world, thus making me feel that nothing deserves the enlivening words that fall letter by letter from my fingertips. 

Nah, pretty sure that's not it either. 

What I am sure of though is that Alma 34:39-41 is one of my favorite scriptural references. I still remember the first time that the scripture actually stuck with me after reading it. I was 14 years old, doing my daily scripture study and had decided to flip to Alma. What caught my attention was actually a few verses earlier that I had highlighted and written a note next to. My eyes, however, were drawn down to verse 39. 

39Yea, and I also ^aexhort you, my brethren, that ye be ^bwatchful unto prayer continually, that ye may not be led away by the^ctemptations of the devil, that he may not overpower you,  that ye may not become his subjects at the last day; for behold, he rewardeth you ^dno good thing.

I think the choice of the word "watchful" is what made me want to continue reading on after completing this verse. Just as you dedicatedly watch your favorite TV show every time it's on air, or how you watch her face so closely to read into her reaction after you tell her "I love you" for the first time, it is with that same dedication that we need to make sure we are "watchful unto prayer continually".

40And now my beloved brethren, I would exhort you to have^apatience, and that ye bear with all manner of ^bafflictions; that ye do not ^crevile against those who do cast you out... 
41But that ye have ^apatience, and bear with those ^bafflictions, with a firm hope that ye shall one day rest from all your afflictions.

Patience, hope, and love. That is what I get from these verses. We are told to have patience in our times of adversity and trial, and to have a firm hope. Not the kind of hope you have when you are standing in the parking lot frantically checking your purse to make sure you do have the keys to your currently locked vehicle. This hope is one that is so sure that it is right on the verge of knowing. 
And if we have that firm hope, then we will one day rest from all of our afflictions because we have a loving Heavenly Father who will not allow for us to be tempted beyond what we are able. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I can honestly say that this post, to me, has not a whiff of moth-eaten-ness.