Death of a Prophet

The leader of my church, whom we regard as God's prophet and mouthpiece on earth, passed away recently, and today was his funeral. I listened to the hour-long service online, and then I felt compelled to stand outside, waiting for his motorcade to pass. (Luckily, I work about a block away from the motorcade's route, so it was really easy to just pop out and stand on the street.)

I feel a deep love for him. I got to meet him twice, both very brief interactions. But I could feel, both in person, and any time I heard him speak at a conference, that this man truly was the prophet of God. The first time, I was 16 (I remember I was wearing a peasant blouse I loved!), and he had spoken at our regional conference at the Dee Events Center. The second time, I was a college freshman at the U. It was Christmas break (December 2002: yikes!!), and I was shopping with my family at Nordstrom. We were in the men's shoe department, when lo and behold, who should also be there but President Monson!

We were so excited to talk to him, and it was even more exciting to get to take a photo with him. I pulled out my trusty disposable camera (I seriously never left home without it!), and some nice stranger took our photo. (My dad thinks he's hilarious and pretended to be the shoe salesman helping Pres. Monson try on a pair of dress shoes. Smh, Dad. Smh.)

One thing that was really lovely about being on South Temple today is that the Cathedral of the Madeleine, which was located on the motorcade's route, rang their bells today from the time the funeral ended until after the hearse had passed. Such a lovely sign of comraderie and co-mourning from our fellow Christians. It was also really wonderful to see other people lined up on South Temple to bid our prophet goodbye. I stood next to a young mom with her four kids (all of whom appeared to be age 5 or younger!) and marveled that she had brought them out on a crisp January afternoon to see our prophet pass by. I teared up a little at the two ladies who brought white handkerchiefs and waved them as President Monson's hearse drove past. I ended up being 20 minutes late to a work meeting, but I'm grateful I had the opportunity to say goodbye. I'm a little puzzled, having not known President Monson personally beyond two passing encounters, by how tender my heart felt today. I loved our prophet and am grateful to know the line of prophets will not end with him. How truly blessed we are!

Here are some more photos from today:

(Note the mom of four behind me)

President and Sister Uchtdorf

Our prophet <3 (aptly, in front of the Thomas S. Monson Building, which houses the Gardner Policy Institute)

God be with you 'til we meet again, dear President Monson. 💗

Status Update: Life in Utah

I got to see my VL friends this weekend out in the Bay Area, and it led to a lot of "How is life in Utah??" updates. Instead of repeating this conversation over and over, I've decided to compile here for you how Utah is going:

How I feel most of the time about having my own apartment:

How I feel the rest of the time about having my own apartment (miss you, DC roomies!):

What my new job is like:

Living close to family again (LOL):

Life in my YSA ward:

On arriving in Utah and realizing that elevation is a THING but still trying to be outdoorsy (bc I really do enjoy it!) and then remembering I'm severely out of shape:

But it's SO pretty here, so:

The excitement at having some of my DC girlfriends here to help each other through the transition (!!!):

How I felt about dating when I first got here:

Then:

A little later:

When I realized I'm LITERALLY walking thousands of steps fewer each day, because I now drive to work and basically never move:

But possibly the best way to describe my transition is this:

Some good, some less than good but really, mostly good. :) I'm glad to be back!

Isn't it Ironic? (And Also Jordan Came to Town!)

I find it of the utmost irony that the day after I published my last post, I had great need to heed my own WORDS from that post, as a promising relationship came unexpectedly to an end. (dating is. the WORST. thing. EVER!!!)

The older I get, and the more I unsuccessfully date, the more I'm tempted to become jaded and lose hope, but I'm grateful that my own stinkin' words posted yesterday were a source of comfort to me today.

I'm also grateful to have found peace today in my default place of peace and with these lovely ladies no less:

This temple trip was already planned, and I know it was no coincidence that it fell on a day God knew I would desperately need to find peace. I've expressed my feelings about the temple on this blog before (shoot, I have an entire blog label called "Temple"), and it's because I know if I ever need guidance or am looking for peace, I'll find both here.

Now on to something a little more fun.... The REASON for the temple trip was... Jordan came to town! It was SO lovely to get to see her while she was here. Jordan is the kind of friend you can always count on to have something positive and cheerful to say (and something delicious to eat!), to make you feel beautiful when you're not feelin' even remotely cute, to bring you up when you're feeling down, and to immediately come to your rescue when you need it. I'm sad she can't stay longer, but it was lovely to get to see her twice while she was in our lovely Deseret.

The first occasion was a gorgeous and oh-so-delicious garden party hosted by Addison on Sunday night. I mean, seriously, look at this spread! Addison and Jordan cooked EVERYTHING, and Addison and his bf Austin created the tablescape and ambience.

And oh, my goodness, the food! A zucchini mascarpone gallete. Fresh caprese salad. Yummy risotto. The most beautiful cheese plate. Mixed drinks and mocktails. Salmon a la Addison. a HOMEMADE (from scratch by Jordan!) strawberry rhubarb pie that was everything I'd ever dreamed a pie should be!



I'm grateful again that the Lord saw fit to give me friends, the Temple, and delicious food (SO bad, I know, but I totally ate my feelings today. And by "my feelings," I mean a Neapolitan style pizza + cannoli + two flavors of gelato from Settabello, Shoyu fried chicken and cole slaw from Rye, and the famous Tollhouse pie a la mode from The Dodo in Sugarhouse) on this gloomy day.

What a blessing to have dear friends in town!

Miracles Happen: Erika & Matt's Wedding!

(warning: slightly mushy post ahead.)

Payson, Utah LDS Temple

I mentioned in my last post that my friends Erika and Matt got married earlier this month. I'm SO, so happy I was able to be there for their sealing and to celebrate their big day!

Erika and I became friends almost three years ago in the DC 2nd ward. She was a newly-baptized convert, and I was the lucky duck who was called as her visiting teacher. :) We quickly became friends, and it's just another example of the blessings that come from visiting teaching. I love Erika so much and am so grateful I got to know her and become dear friends with her.




I also mentioned in my last post that Caitlin came out from DC for Erika's sealing. There was a beautiful spirit in the sealing room, and Caitlin and I may or may not have cried through a good portion of it. ;) We were both struck by the beauty and simplicity of the sealing ceremony and by the miracle – the SERIOUS MIRACLE – it was that Matt and Erika found each other.

Erika grew up in Brazil. Matt grew up out here in Utah. He grew up in the Church; Erika did not. Who could have ever imagined that somewhere in São Paulo there was a little girl growing up, and that she would be the eternal companion of this little boy growing up in the middle-of-nowhere Utah??

The path they each took to get to the place – physically, emotionally, spiritually – where they could meet, date, and fall in love is a miracle to me. Honestly, any time two people fall in love and get married is a miracle to me.



It was a beautiful experience to watch the culmination of this miracle in my friend's life. I can remember so many conversations we've had where one of us has felt discouraged in dating; like it was never going to work out for us.



And being able to share in her special day just gave me so much HOPE that one day, I'll get to have my big day. That I'll be able to see this miracle in my life, and that somewhere, there is a special guy being prepared to be my eternal companion. (And umm, if you happen to know where he is, feel free to set me up with him! ;) Heh heh.)



Congrats again, Erika and Matt!! :) xo

Christmas everywhere

My little brother has a friend joining us for Christmas this year.  She is visiting all the way from China. She didn't grow up celebrating Christmas, and it's already been fun to have her around and share little details with her. Like this morning.

We were riding the Frontrunner down to Salt Lake, and one of the UTA workers came by to wish us all a Merry Christmas and share a little Christmas cheer via candy cane. Shirley (my bro's friend) was intrigued by the oddly-shaped treat and asked what it was. I explained that it was a special type of candy we eat during Christmas. I refreshed her on the Christmas story and the shepherds who received the glad tidings of Christ's birth.

It struck me as such a beautiful thing that even as we get our sugar highs this season, we can find Christ and the REAL spirit of Christmas everywhere we go. :)

PS If you want a quick refresher on the Christmas story, click here to read this beautiful synopsis. It'll fill your heart with gratitude and cheer. :)

Halloween 2014

As you may know, Halloween was last week. This year, I got lucky with my costume theme(s), in that I was part of TWO groups for TWO different events using the same costume. That's what happens when your co-workers decide to do a "Wizard of Oz" group costume the same year you have friends doing the same thing for a ward party. :)

Below is our amazing work version, in all its glory:

Our co-worker María was home sick, so we decided to photoshop her costume. ;)



All the costumes you see above (well, except María's) are homemade. :) And please let the record show that when our CEO came in with her two little ones (love them!) and saw our costumes, her comment about our costumes was, "You can tell you're children of immigrants." (Just wait 'til you see the gringo Mormon store-bought costumes below, and you'll see what she means. ;) Heh heh.)

And speaking of the boss's little ones, aren't they just the cutest??

Oh, I love these little ones! They come in every day for Lalo's lunch, and every time, it's the highlight of my (and Avery's) day. :)

And now for the ward Halloween pictures! Our YSA group had a Halloween activity at the Foulger-Pratt Barn in Dickerson, MD. It was a beautiful venue (it's where Eve and Erick's wedding was), and an even more beautiful night.

And here's the gang below:

In case you hadn't figured it out, yet, I was the "Yellow Brick Road." :) I made my costume by taking a yellow dress I already owned and using black masking tape to form the outlines of the "bricks." I was really quite proud of myself :) And I came up with the idea all on my lonesome! The sign I made at work with our printer, packing tape, a stick from a gay pride flag, and some cardboard. I thought I'd be punny, so on one side, my sign said "Follow the Yellow Brick Road," and on the other, it said "Follow me" and had my social media handle, @utahgirlami. :) (Get it? Follow me? Social media? Ah ha ha ha!)

Some more photos:

Photobomb courtesy of Kyle.

And then we went camping. :) Hope your Halloween was also lovely!