I'm free, I'm Free, I'M FREE!!!

Ok... This is all you will hear from me on the matter, but I just had to say that I'm so PUMPED that I NEVER have to go to Brick Oven if i don't want to. I don't ever have to smile when a little kid demands more "juice." I don't have to choke to death because my tie is on too tight. I don't have to pull my hair back in a pony every day to keep it "out of my face." I don't have to wipe my sneezy nose and teary eyes because the pepper shakers made me that way. And most of all, I don't ever have to come home smelling like B.O. (Brick Oven, that is)! I'm so thankful that I have been blessed so much so that I am able to take this next year and just focus on school!

Too Much Love In The Room

This week, my older brother, Joe, and his family are spending the week at my house. They live in Virginia and are taking a vacation before school and work begin to take over their lives again. Here are some picture, along with stories of the events so far.Ok I guess I can just brag because this is officially the CUTEST little boy ever and he's MY nephew. He's 7 months old, yet looks like he could be a year... we call him TANK!Derik, Joe, and Jon had to get all manly and play Wii for a little while. Boys will be boys.Here is Becky playing with her cousin Dylan. These little kids have been running wild playing with each other.On Tuesday they went to temple square and played around up there. Dallin loved the conference center because he discovered that his loud voice echoes in it.We had swim night and the girlies loved it. It was the best family night ever complete with pools, wrestling, and water fights.This is a super funny video of Joe and Jon having a "relay" race in the pools that didn't turn out so great.


Don't be fooled.... they aren't embracing out of love. They were wrestling trying to get the best of each other. Just for the record: Joe totally kicked Jon's Hiney!

Funny story time: Right after I took this picture, Jon started coming after me with water. I know that it was just water, but I didn't want to get wet. Anyways, I splashed me good and I was mad. SO i went inside and filled up a bucket from the sink so that he didn't see me do it. Well, I snuck up on him and went to dup it and he got up so I had to kinda throw the water at him. Well, needless to say it went all over the place and I ended up getting water on everyone because they were all sitting near each other. Well, that pissed my siblings off and they ALL came after me, hung me from my ankles and wrists, and dragged me into the pool.... so much for not wanting to get wet, right?

Last night we went to the Gateway mall. The married couples went to eat dinner and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse while Jon and I watched all the little ones. Everything went suprisingly well although I can say I'm not ready to have kids for a while. Once their parents got back, we let them run wild in the fountains and they just had so much fun.

This video is so funny... Sami decided she wanted to stand right above the fountains as they came shooting out... well.. you can guess what happened...

I'm writing.... a sister missionary?

Here is a little funny story from Elder Gunther. "Yesterday as Elder Woodland and I were door contacting we knocked on a door and no one answered. So we went to the next level below. As we did a younger guy walked up the stairs onto the level we had just been on. Then all of the my companion and I heard an older voice talking to the guy. She said, '' Did you see that guy and girl that were just here?'' The guy answered, “No.” The lady then answered, “Just barely there was a guy and a girl standing at my door.” When elder Woodland and I heard this we just looked at each other because we had just been at her door and she hadn't opened it for us and she didn't even say anything to us through the door. And we thought it was weird because Elder Woodland and I had been the only ones there. Then the lady said to the guy, “Are you sure you didn't see the guy and the girl that were just here. The guy was taller and the girl was shorter.” Then me and my companion looked at each other and laughed because she was totally talking about us but apparently hadn't gotten a good view of us. She thought that I had been the ''short girl'' and my companion and been the ''tall guy'' lol. I asked my companion if I really looked like a girl and he just laughed and said no. I didn't even have my hair curly like usual. So I don't know how the lady thought I looked like a girl."

A few of the latest stories from Russia

"So to start out this week as far as the work goes has been pretty good. Last night we had an interesting experience. Earlier that day we had had District Meeting. One thing we talked about was trying to ask more questions and not just the regular questions we usually ask people. So having had that in mind as we went door contacting I tried to ask questions that would make people think and that applied specifically to them and what they would say to us. So the last door, it's always the last door, a man opened up. He was in his mid 20's I think. We started talking to him and he said that he wasn't interested. He also said that he didn't believe in God. I just kept asking him questions and he eventually came out of the hallway and started talking to us. We told him we had a book we wanted to give to him. We told him we wanted to tell him how we got the book and what it was about and he agreed. So we started teaching him the first lesson. Right before we finished, one of his friends who was a cop came out and started smoking. I was really bummed because I thought his friend was going to ruin everything. But as soon as his friend came out I started to ask his friend questions to make him feel important and it worked lol. He opened up and he actually said he would like to read the Book of Mormon too. So we got two contacts and had one lesson. And one funny thing that happened while we were talking to them. I turned to the cop guy, who had a gun on his belt which you don't see very much here in Russia, and I was going to make an anolgy with the rules we follow in the countries we live in to the commandments. Anyways I said to the cop guy, 'so we all have rules we have to follow no matter where we live right?! The rules may be different but there is always some kind of law.' He then laughed and said, 'ya that is right except for in Russia. Here we follow about 25% of the laws. The rest are more like guidelines.' SCARY!

"The second story happened today as we were in Moscow. We were going down into the metro we met a group of older people who saw us and said, 'we know who you are!' Sorry I forgot to mention that they said this in English because they were from the US. It turns out that they weren't Mormon but they had family members who were. SO we talked to them for about ten minutes and started going down in to the Metro. As we were about to get on to the Metro train a lady stopped us again and talked in English but had a thick Russian accent. She was just smiling so big. She said, 'I'm so glad I saw you guys! I have seen you guys two or three times in the metro but you have always been going up the other side of the escalator. I have always wanted to say hi cause I LOVE you guys. My husband is Mormon and we live in Houston Texas.' We ended up talking to her for about an hour as we were going to the bus station and she was even able to talk to the other Americans we had met. She knew English really well and so we talked to her in English. I can't tell you how many times she said she loves missionaries. Unfortunately she isn't a member but she is a great lady and says that she knows that we are sent here from God and that we are 'angels without wings.' She says that she always tells people that Mormons are great and that people need to marry Mormons because there isn't a greater people. She says she can't stand when people say anything bad about mormons, especially when Russians say it. She says that she is our defender and wants everone to know who great we are. She also kept sayin that it was a miracle that we met up with eachother. She said that she was thirty minutes late to something she needed to do because she had gotten held up. She said that she knew that God had put us into each other's paths'! In short it was a great conversation and we got her information down and she said she couldn't wait to tell her husband and the missionaries in Texas lol! The mission is great and I am so thankful for the many people that the Lord puts in our way even if a lot of them don't result in a baptism! I just love talking to people and especially when it comes to talking about this great gospel."

Here are some recent mission pictures for ya'll!

This is Elder Gunther and Elder Wagner, another missionary from his area. Behind them is a river/lake that they performed their FIRST BAPTISM in!

This is Elder Despain, their new convert, and Elder Gunther prior to the baptism. Note: I'm not sure if the bare-chested man is part of the group the took with them or just an innocent, curious bystander.

I'd just like to point out in this picture that while Hudson is not a super tall person, these members in Russia don't seem to be giants, so he fits in quite well with them. Oh man.... LOVE HIM!

I guess P-days aren't super buys... but it looks like Elder Despain has taken a liking to doing Elder Gunther's hair. I don't know if the whole fau-hawk thing works for a missionary....

As missionaries, they aren't allowed to hold or really even touch little kids and so here we see Elder Gunther's urge to cuddle something being taken out on the homeless kittens in the street. Don't worry, I don't think he took any home with him.

What do I do with my life now?

So, I, like almost every other BYU girl, just finished reading the last of the "Twlight" saga. Oh. My. Goodness. I just want to put it out there right now that this was, by far, my most favoritest of them all. So many twists and turns. Also, I feel that Stephanie Meyer herself has become a better writer. I think it's so cool that we all can sorta find someone in the book that we connect with. I'd like to think that, not getting too churchy here, some of us are a lot like Bella. We're timid girls and daughters who just want to be madly in love with the person that we are going to spend ETERNITY with. Hopefully, through and with that person, we can find our true potential and become all we really can be. I think it's so cool how she will do ANYTHING and sacrifice herself for her family. I only hope to be that good of a mother someday. Anyways, now that I'm done with the book, i guess i can really get into this blogging thing. I don't know how to fill all this extra time that i have on my hands now. Any other good book suggestions?

The humble beginning...

So since EVERYONE else seems to have a blog, I guess it's time that I start one. The thing is, though, that i don't have a husband or kids to blog about. Don't worry, this isn't going to turn into my dairy. But this is how it's going to work: our life lessons/lectures will come from the missionary in Russia and I'll be here to be the comedic relief. So hold on folks and we'll make it through this next year together.