Zion Half Marathon

I was fortunate to run the Zion Half Marathon this year and it was absolutely awesome!  The course was gradually uphill the entire time, but was so beautiful.  I had not planned to run the race, but was asked two weeks before the race if I wanted to pay for a bib transfer with a woman that could no longer run it.

I didn't have much time to train, but I made sure I was super hydrated and fed well before the race.  As a result, I felt fantastic the entire time and finished with my personal best 1:53!  I would run that race again in a heartbeat. . . oh, and I was super surprised and thrilled to find out that I won 5th in my division! I just LOVE running!

First YW Activity

Our First YW Activity was CHOPPED and it was a lot of fun.  I was nervous because I did not know any of the girls, and their previous YW President was AWESOME! They were all so welcoming though and we had a great time!

Amber's Baptism

Amber turned 8 years old this year and had the opportunity of being baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  This is the announcement we made for her and sent to our family members.

Amber's actual baptism was scheduled for April 16th, but Jason had class all day at UNLV so it was rescheduled for May 4th.  My mom and Grandma Hall came down as well as Jason's parents.  It was wonderful to have them all there for it.  

Amber was VERY nervous to be baptized, because she has always had a fear of going under water. When she entered the font, she cried and cried and then right after the baptism, she said, "This is the worst day of my life! (Tears in her eyes)"  I felt so bad for her, but it ended up being an awesome opportunity to teach her about sacrifice.  I told her that Heavenly Father was so pleased with her decision to be baptized and that she showed Him that He was more important to her than her fear.  As we talked about that, she calmed down and got a big smile on her face, as if to say, "that's right, I really did do it!" :)  

After she was confirmed a few of us family members were given the opportunity to bear our testimonies to her.  Corbyn bore his to her and it was the sweetest thing a big brother could have said.  He let her know that she made the right decision and that Heavenly Father was so happy with her.  She was all grins!

I'm so thankful Amber made the choice to be baptized.  I know that it is the first necessary step to making it back to live with Heavenly Father and she is well on her way completing all the steps to enter His kingdom.

He couldn't help being a little goofy

I was SO bummed that I left my jewelry sitting at home . . . silly, I know, but really?!  All these pictures need some earings and a necklace . . . just sayin'

New Calling

The Sunday before our RS Birthday dinner, Jason received a call from the Bishopric around 4:45 p.m. asking if we could both come and meet with the Bishop in 20 minutes.  My mom was in town and stayed with the kids while we ran on over.  We were both so confused as to why we would be coming in because both of us already had two callings each.  When we got there the Bishop and 1st Counselor, Brother Beecher, seemed very smiley.  They started asking Jason all about his Doctorate and how busy he is and how often he is around so I started relaxing in my seat knowing he was going to get a new calling.  Then the Bishop asked if we were planning on staying here for awhile and we said we weren't sure.  He then said, "Maybe the Lord is making that decision for you."  He then looked at me and said, "We would like to call you to be the Young Women's President."

I have never been so surprised in my entire adult life!  I just started to cry.  I wasn't crying because I was worried about the time commitment or anything like that, I was crying because I didn't feel like I was good enough for the calling right now.  There have been times in my life I would have thought I'd be great for that calling, but right now is not that time.  I have been more lax than ever with my scripture study the past couple years and I'm not very good at "Good. Better. Best"  

Of course I accepted the call, but I just cried and cried the rest of the day.  I just didn't feel good enough and I didn't want anyone to know that I got called.  It's not that I was embarrassed, but I was incredibly humbled and I just didn't want to tell anyone I had a new calling.

It's funny, because the week leading up to the call, I had been prompted that I needed to be better with my scripture study and the day I was called, I had the strongest impression, during Gospel Doctrine, that I needed to commit THAT day to better scripture study.  I'm happy to say that since I received the call, I have not missed a single day of scripture study and I have enjoyed it SO much.  I have been diving into the scriptures and the more I have read the more I have thirsted for more.  I can't believe what a blessing it has been.

Isn't it wonderful that the Lord knows us so individually that He knows exactly what we need to help us be better.  I know that I was not called to be YW President because of how good I am, it was because of how good it would help me to be.  What a wonderful blessing and I am so thankful.  The girls have been very welcoming and we have had a ton of great lessons and activities.

New Record!!

I couldn't believe it when I finished this 10K, but I finished in 51 minutes 11 seconds and my average pace was 8:15 min/mile.  I NEVER would have thought I could run a 10K that fast considering my first 10K was 1 hour 15 minutes.  I've come a long way and I'm loving it!

RS Birthday Dinner

When we first moved into this ward I was almost immediately called to be a Wolf Den Leader, which I really enjoyed and then I was asked to serve on the RS Meeting Committee to put together the RS Birthday Dinner.  The committee was a ton of fun and we decided to do a fun Fiesta type party.  Our committee performed "I Will Survive" (RS Version that I changed the lyrics to) and we were totally silly.  We then played RS Jeopardy and shared interesting facts about each of the sisters there and they had to guess who the facts belonged to.  It was so much fun and everyone seemed like they were having a great time!

I'm so grateful I was able to serve on that committee! I made some wonderful friends and instantly felt more connected to the ward as a result.