Broadway Ill Humor

I heard about the new Broadway show titled "The Book of Mormon" a couple of weeks ago and hoped that it was not true. I'm not sure why the creators of South Park and The Book of Mormon feel the need to make continual jabs at the LDS Church and the things that we believe.

A friend posted this article yesterday on facebook from Huffington Post, it made me happy to hear him say that he doesn't agree with people supporting this show. I really loved hearing what the Church had to say in response...

"The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ."

...what a beautiful response, not rude but still able to share what we believe to be the truth. I hope that others can find what I and many more have found to be true, the Book of Mormon does change lives forever, a change that I am so grateful to have had.

A Easter Surprise

This is a cute but rather simple idea to give someone for Easter (I gave them to my Visiting Teachees). Each egg is filled with some candy (I couldn't resist :D) and a scripture that has to do with the Easter story. I also included the story called Jeremy's Egg for them to read...a really touching story that reminds of the resurrection. I've included the scriptures and you can find Jeremy's Egg here.

1. "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. And from that time he sought opportu­nity to betray him" (matthew 26:14-16).

2. "And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins" (matthew 26:26-28).

3. "Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the dis­ciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yon­der. And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sor­rowful and very heavy. . . . And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. . . . He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. . . . And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words" (matthew 26:36-37, 39, 42, 44).

4. "When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the gov­ernor" (matthew 27:1-2).

5. "Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, say­ing, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it" (matthew 27:22-24).

6. "And the soldiers led him away into the hall, called Praetorium; and they call together the whole band. And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees worshipped him" (mark 15:16-19).

7. "And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. . . . And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefac­tors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left" (luke 23:26-27, 33).

8. "Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots" (luke 23:34).

9. "Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. . . . Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earth­ quake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God" (matthew 27:50-51, 54).

10. "And, behold, there was a man named Joseph, a counsellor; and he was a good man, and a just: (The same had not consented to the counsel and deed of them;) he was of Arimathaea, a city of the Jews: who also him­self waited for the kingdom of God. This man went unto Pilate, and begged the body of

Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn in stone, wherein never man before was laid." "And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed" (luke 23:50-53; matthew 27:60).

11. "And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?" (mark 16:1-4).

12."And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him" (mark 16:5-6).

Do You Kuru?

I have to start this off with the preface that I am not a runner (or much of a walker either), I've never needed shoes that allowed me to run like the wind or walk the Great Wall of China. I've always been content with the five dollar shoes, granted sitting on your bed or couch all day doesn't really require more than five dollar shoes. My previous stance has always been, "hey they fit, awesome!"

At the end of January I got a pair of Kuru shoes, they came just as I was leaving on a trip to California with my brother so I threw them in my bag to use as my walking shoes. I started to regret that I had brought them as my only walking shoe, going on a 3 day tourist trip around San Fransisco, San Jose, and the surrounding areas is not exactly the ideal place to break in new shoes. I had no choice so I put them on the first day we went out...the amazing thing?! At the end of the day my feet weren't even hurting!

This semester I have babysat for a BYU professor at her home two days a week. I ride a bus and then walk two miles from the bus-stop to her home, I was a little worried at what shoes I would wear that would last the four miles a day, plus playing with the kids. So I decided to try out the Kuru's, most days when I get home I feel fine except being tired (try spending the afternoon with 3+ kids and not being tired), my feet don't hurt and I feel awesome for having walked for the day.

I'm not generally one to "advertise" different companies here but I'm sure that I'm not the only one that sometimes wishes we had better shoes for our feet, if you are ever looking for something a little nicer I would definitely consider KURU, they are a little on the pricier (remember the fore-mentioned spending habits) but they are definitely worth it---plus they aren't that bad looking either! :)

Drive With Me

When we went to Oregon we saw many things--namely lots of road, cars, semis, mountains, trees, snow, windmills, hay, and many other things. Here are some "highlights" of our trip.

The Pink Girls!

That title is not exactly correct, if it were up to Leah we would be titled "The DUSTY ROSE Girls" and NOT Pink. She was very set against it being pink (:D) but one of the Mom's that we grew up with called us the Pink Girls, every time Brea and I heard it we would laugh just because we knew that Leah wouldn't like it.

The day of the wedding was a fun day, it started out very rainy and we were concerned that it might continue while we were going to take pictures but luckily it stopped just as we were taking pictures outside the Temple.

The funny part of the day was Brea...she didn't get all of her clothes until right before the wedding so she matched all of us but wasn't exactly the same so Kelsey decided that she was the "maid-of-honor," even without trying she had a bouquet that was a little different than everyone else.

Conference Sunday

Conference was wonderfully rejuvenating as normal! (You can listen/watch/read the talks here) I love the opportunity every 6 months of getting to listen to the Prophet and the other leaders called of God. It's a unique thing that we have, hearing words meant just for us and these latter-days. Besides conference my weekend was also filled with a bridal shower, puzzles, taking family pictures for the Skousens, and many more things!

Sunday morning began like this:

I was not too pleased to see the snow...yes it's beautiful but I was hoping that we were getting closer to spring/summer rather than winter.

Brea and Darrell joined Mom and I for the afternoon session, so we got to spend sometime with this cuteness.

Addie and her Daddy took a nap sometime during the afternoon session.

Brea and I may or may not have worked on and almost completed a 1000 piece puzzle!

As soon as the session was over we got ready to take family pictures, Brea has been wanting to take them for awhile and having time where all of them are together doesn't happen very often so we took advantage of the time (despite the snow that wanted to fall on us).