I feel like I always say we’re busy, and that a lot has been
going on…but this time I really mean it! The past few weeks have been such a
rush, and it’s kind of nice to come up for air!
Back in February our stake presidency asked Donny and I to
speak at our local youth conference, we call it ‘EFY’ around here. It was
definitely a bit intimidating; since it wasn’t so long ago that I was one of
the youth sitting in the chairs! But excitement took over, and we
had so much fun! It was a neat experience to speak to the youth about making
good choices to lead you toward the temple. It was interesting to think back,
and look at where we started, and where we are now. Not to mention, where we
are going! It definitely made me pause and realize how grateful I am for my
Heavenly Father and just how acutely involved He has been in my life, and how
His plan is always better than what we think up on our own.
It was fun to pull
out silly pictures from our childhood and high school experiences to show the
youth. I think a lot of them consider themselves so young, and so far away from
making decisions that determine a whole lot about their future. I know I
definitely used to think that way!
Donny had a blast too! It was his first time at a big Fresno
North Stake activity. I know he was impressed at all the hard work that went
into preparing such a coordinated and planned event. We had fun walking around
the lodges and cabins, and checking out all the cool activities that were
there.
It was so nice just to get out of town for a day, and enjoy
some time together while Evelyn got quality time in Madera with Donny’s mom.
Even more than presenting to the youth, I really enjoyed
preparing our content! We put a lot of time into it, and went through so many
different ideas of what to teach, what pictures, and scriptures to use and
everything else! By the end we felt like we finally had what needed to be
taught. And that was about 3 days before we presented. Ha. Nothing like a
deadline to motivate… :)
One of the things we decided to cut was a gem though; I
wished we had time to fit it in. In 2005, Donny and I both participated in the
Quad Stake Pioneer Trek. Donny was a babe of a senior, and I was a dorky,
awkward beehive!
Donny remembers the event as being terrible because his
company consisted of "a bunch of girls who didn’t do anything, so Michael (his
friend) and I had to pull the cart the whole dang time”.
I remember going to the event, and being pretty miserable
the whole time. I hated what I was wearing, and it was SO hot and dirty.
Definitely not how I wanted to spend an afternoon. But my friends Darcie and
Chelsea were going, so I went too. The only other thing I remember was having a
crush on some of the older boys in my company. I thought they were so cute!
So imagine our surprise when we found these photos…
That’s Donny, and that’s me!!! And yes, in the bottom picture my mouth is hanging open because I am staring at Donny! Haha. Just kidding. Holy cow. My beehive dreams
came true! Haha! We were so shocked when we found these! We were just
going through some old albums, looking for pictures to show the youth. Ha, we
found much more than anticipated!
Just goes to show that you never really know what is in
store!
Here are some other pictures from the day!
Until next time!
