Number four

"When you stop doing things for fun you might as well be dead."

-Hemingway

  Sunday afternoon we were all feeling a little grumpy and bored. Nobody could agree on an activity or think of anything to do. So, I jumped up and began gathering 'supplies'. I told everyone to get in the car and not to ask any questions. We started to drive and the wheels were turning in my head, because at that point I really had no idea where I was going to take everyone to make the evening a success. After about five minutes of driving I had an idea and we were headed for adventure number four....

 Megan was excited for the idea of a new adventure and not knowing where I was taking them.

    As we drove down a dirt road that had lots of bumps and rocks, Lance began to get a little worried about where I was taking them.

 We told Clay that he wasn't allowed to see or hear where we were going.

   While we were driving I ran over a snake and so we stopped to see if it was okay...it didn't move, but we think it was fine.

  We arrived at our destination and I told everyone we had to hike a little, so off we went. 

    This was the beautiful scenery that we got to enjoy while... 

   ...we did an activity. At home I had collected a few activities for us to do after we had found a spot. Our choices were to color or decorated a pillowcase for a friend.

   Lance decided that we should start with a pillowcase and then go from there.

   Before we started our activity I pulled out a blanket and our snack. We had graham crackers with cream cheese frosting...and it was delicious.

   After our snack, we got to work on the pillowcase that we decided to make for our mutual friend Marc Fletcher. Marc graduated Spring semester and we wanted to send him something to let him know we were all thinking of him. 

  

 This is what our finished product looked like. It's says "Hakuna Matata, it means no worries." 

   Ready to go...

   We headed back to our car with smiles on our faces and a few more memories to store in our hearts. Yet another outing turned into a successful adventure. I was pretty happy with this idea and glad that everyone enjoyed it. I have to say I'm becoming quite spontaneous and good at coming up with things to do. 

   

"Have fun without caring who is watching"

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing."

     At the start of this summer I was given some great advice by a wonderful woman and it has stuck with me ever since. 

       "Decide that today, you are going to have fun! STOP looking around the corner. STOP focusing on what others are doing. DO: Make plans for your future, based on you and only you (this is your only chance until you get married...it will happen someday). DO what you are there to do. This is your CHANCE! Be EMMA!! Find out what makes you happy, not what you think will make someone else happy in a relationship.

    I guess if I could impart any "wisdom" it would be this. RELAX and live your life. Don't try so hard. Have fun without caring who is watching." I read this every day to remind myself of what I should DO and it has helped so much. Thus helping me to be a little more me and a little more spontaneous. 

   Adventure number three...you might look at that picture and say to yourself, "What kind of an adventure can you have in Utah?" Well, let me tell you something, you can have adventures anywhere and everywhere and this adventure was fantastic and crazy fun.
  I got back to Rexburg on a Tuesday night and started talking to my roommate Megan. After talking for a while I told her we should go down to Salt Lake and surprise our friend Lance, by picking her up at the airport...and so that's exactly what we did. After doing some amazing detective work and finding out what flight Lance would come in on. After I got off work and with smiles on our faces, twenty dollars to our names, and a bag of cereal to keep our tummies full, we departed Rexburg with half a tank of gas and an itinerary that will blow your mind.

First half of THE itinerary...

....second half.

   As we drove we decided that it would be fun to add our friend Marc to the surprise, so we stopped in Brigham City and picked him up. Oh boy,  it just get's better from here...

We arrived at the airport with leaps of joy and maybe a bit of brisk walking, because we still weren't absolutely sure what flight Lance was on.  

At this point we were really excited cause her plane "we think" should have landed......

After 45 minutes of waiting we started to get a little worried that we had the wrong flight....

     But alas, there she was and tired as could be. I started running towards her and it took her forever to realize who I was, but after she did her face was priceless. 

 

  This was her surprised/happy face. She had no idea that we were coming to get her at all. And me with all her bags....

Before we headed back to Rexburg we had to get some food cause we were all starving. 

2:00am and I think we were all a little tired drunk. 

We had hit that wall of tiredness that we just couldn't come back from.....

...and so we began out trek back to rexburg.

   We arrived back in Rexburg at 7:00am. Just in time for Clay and I to go to work. We were all dead that day, but let me tell you it was so worth it. We left Rexburg at 6:00pm Wednesday night and got back at 7:00am Thursday morning. 

  This act of spontaneity was so much fun for me and everyone around me was happy. They loved the ideas that I came up with. I did it without worrying about what people thought of me and it ended up being more fun than all the things I normally do because i didn't worry about what they thought. So my first lesson learned this summer...don't worry about what others think about you so much. I'm still learning this every day and as I put it into action I've become a little happier every day. 

   "Have fun without caring who is watching"

   

Adventures one and two

Okay, okay, okay I just can't keep my stories and adventures a secret anymore. I must tell you all about the fun things I have done over the break and the adventures we have gone on. So here we go.....

     I started the seven week break as a bum. I kinda just kept to myself and wasn't all that excited about meeting new people, I just wanted to do my own thing. But then my sweet roommate Megan came home one day and told me to get up off my sorry bum and come have some fun with her and so the rest is history. 

   Our first adventure consisted of a camp fire, s'mores, and a lake. Megan got me off the couch and took me to Egin lake where I met Clay and Brett. We had some s'mores and played frisbee in the dark lake waters. And I got to know these two fella's a little better. 

                                     

                                                  Love me some sand, but not so much in my shoes.

Clay looks like an Indian. 

  Adventure number two: I went home! Okay, some might think that this doesn't count as an adventure, but clearly you have never been to my house. I got to go home for about a week for a mix of reasons and while home many great things happened. 

My dear mother made us all go to Shakespeare in the Park...so cool. And we got to eat homemade pizza rolls. Oh and Quinc (my little sister) made caramel corn, yum!!! 

Golden is my youngest sister and she calls me Granny! 

    Quincy, Golden, and I decided it would be fun to take some pictures so I did their hair and we took a few pictures.

Quincy and Golden

  I tried to catch a duck while at home......

  And look I got one....okay so I didn't actually catch it. I was outside checking things out and my brother handed me a duck. I would a agree that it's a bit random, but we got a picture of it anyway. 

Golden and I went for a five minute horse ride...it was literally five minutes, because little Sparky there doesn't like to listen and go where he is suppose too. 

    After our Saturday family walk we took some family pictures. My family can be pretty entertaining at times and we all seem to think we're pretty funny, by no means are we normal. 

My two brothers and dad went on a 50 mile hike in the Bob Marshal wilderness, so all the girls went to pick them up at the trail head. Not sure why, but that picture of me was one of the only pictures that was take on that trip.Oh and we saw some big horn sheep.  

   Last but not least, on one of my last afternoons I was at home, I asked my mom if the two of us could go on a walk together. Now, you have to understand that it's almost impossible to get time with mom alone. So as we started to walk out the driveway we were joined by Sadie....and then Rigdon...and then Presley, which really isn't even half of my siblings but still it's a lot. We walked down the road about a quarter of a mile where we came upon the canal by our house. And that is where the fun began. We put our row boat in the canal and did ourselves some canal rowing....haha! As we rowed down the canal my little sister Honore' came down the road in her wheelchair and then Olivia and Golden showed up riding a horse, and last but not least Chelsie and Zeth came down the road on a tandem bike. By the time we were done rowing and walking back to the house all of my siblings were there and were just having a grand old time with all sorts of different transportation. You just can't make this stuff up.

   So,  my first two adventures for the summer were great. The adventures at home were fun, silly, and I could never find them anywhere else. Egin lake was the start of something a little different for me here in my Rexburg world. I will continue to share and explain more about my adventures and how I've changed, but for now this is just a taste of my world and it's not so much Dilemmas, but delights! 

  

  

The Bus Ride

"Please nooo!" These were the words that came out of my mouth when I found out I would be taking a bus from Great Falls, Montana to Rexburg, Idaho. The idea of traveling through grungy Montana bus stops, being surrounded by people I didn't know, and not knowing where to go at each stop was unpleasant and all together quite frightening. But nonetheless, I boarded a bus Tuesday afternoon with a little bit of excitement for something new and different.

   While sitting in the bus stop waiting to board the bus that would take me to Butte and then on to Rexburg, I sat talking to my dad. I felt a little betrayed that my parents would do such a thing to me, but I understood that if I wanted to get back to Rexburg I would have to make some sacrifices of my own. While looking around the room at my soon to be fellow travelers, my dad leaned over to me and said, "I once took a bus from San Antonio, Texas to here and swore to myself that I would never let my wife and kids travel on a bus." I simply looked at my father and gave a disbelieving laugh to what he had just said me. The thought of what he said wasn't comforting in the least bit.

  As we sat there a woman in her early 20's walked up to me and asked me where I was traveling too, I replied that I would be going to Rexburg, she then asked me if her younger sister could sit with me for the ride to Butte and if I could make sure she got to her next bus alright. The young girl was in her teens and looked outwardly the way I felt inside, terrified at the idea of traveling by herself and with the character of those that would accompany us on the bus. Her destination was different then my own but I felt confident that I could help her to her next bus and then board my own when we arrived in Butte. Sharing little conversation we began our separate journeys together.

   We arrived in Butte and I help the young girl find her bus and told her that her next stop was home. Wishing her luck, I then continued on to find my own bus. I was glad for the opportunity to be able to focus on someone else, it helped me to relax. I found my bus without difficulty and I gave my luggage to the driver and waited to board. As I stood by the bus a woman walked up to me and asked if I could help her lift some things on to the bus. She then began to talk to me and asked some questions about where I was going and what I was studying in school. As we talked I started to realize the reason I was taking the  bus to Rexburg. This woman was an answer to my prayers, her name was Sydney.

    After boarding the bus, Sydney and I began to talk again and she shared her story with me and I was amazed at this woman’s life. Sixty years old, never married, and a member of the LDS church Sydney shared stories and advice with me that cannot be replaced by anything. And just think what I would have missed had I not taken that bus to Rexburg. It was a neat experience. Before we parted she gave me her mailing address and told me to share the ending of my story with her. 

     I never would have thought that my answers would be found in a little bus station in Butte, Montana. But believe it or not they were and I'm so grateful for experience. Our Father in Heaven has a plan for each of us and tailors our journeys to what He knows we need and not what we think we need and want. Although, the answers don’t always come in the moment we want them, in His way and according to His timing, they will always come. 
    And that's my "little" spiel/dilemma for the day. 

a letter from home

Hello Emma, 
   How are you? I hope this letter finds you well. I just thought I would write and send you a little sunshine. I also wanted to tell you you have lovely blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and a  brilliant smile that all come together to make a wonderful lady, that looks very good in pictures and in person.
  You are an amazing volleyball player and I thank you for being so good and pioneering the way for me. I hope some day I will be as good as you. And also, even though its a little to pink you painted my room tremendously well. And also, you sing like a bird and when you sing everyone who hears you has a big smile on their face and perhaps tears in their eyes, because they have been deeply moved. Also, you are a hard worker, when you see something to be done you get it done. And you have great organization skills, you are a great leader, you do what is right, and you inspire others to do the same. When you are teaching others you have patience and kindness and that is admirable, you will make an outstanding mother someday.
  Also, you make delicious food, it could be ambrosia, except we're eating in so it can't be, but otherwise it would be. And also, I miss you. We all wish we could see you more often and I especially hope that I can come and visit you. Be seeing ya.

            Yours Truly,

                       Sadie Bug :) 

 

A trip home

    Today I don't have a lot to say other than how important family is in my life. I have been living away from home for almost two years now and although it's a good learning experience for me, I have found that in the last few months, I have missed my family more and more. After a lot of thought and prayer I decided that the best remedy for my heart would be to go home and spend a little time with the people that love me the most. 

     I arrive home late Friday night and before I had even turned the car off there they were, two little blonde girls running from the front porch to welcome me home. After big hugs from my youngest sisters, Golden and Presley, my mother then came out the front door to give me a big welcoming hug and then my dad. Those hugs were the very thing that I needed. After some talking with the rest of the fam, eating pizza, and a plethora of questions from Golden and Presley, they reminded me that mom need a hair cut. I then gave my mom a hair cut and off to bed we all went.

    Saturday was spent in our little town at our Swim Day fundraiser for the town, that is held ever year. We watched a parade and after the parade we wandered around the park, ate food, and watched the entertainment that was provided by community members. After being in the hot sun we decided to spent the rest of the day at the lake, tubing and water skiing.

   Sunday came around and I got to hear my parents speak in church. What a huge blessing it was to hear the testimonies of both my parents. I have a pretty great family and I love them very much. And even though they tease me and we often make fun, I love them very much. Family is so important and I lost sight of that for a while. I began to let other things and other people take precedence over my family and I will never do that again. It was so good to go home and I can't wait to be able to go again.