A Time of Thanksgiving

It is almost Thanksgiving and I love this time of the year. I have so much to be thankful for. I have a job I love, family and friends that I couldn't make it without, I am going to school majoring in a field that I am thrilled about, and I have all of you, My Ourstory Family. Each of you have touched my life through your stories and through the sharing of your life with me.
I am grateful that I have the opportunity to have all of you in my life.
I am grateful each day that I wake up, because that is one more day for me to see the beauty a loving Father in Heaven has given me.
I am grateful that my two best friends are my mom and my sister.
I am grateful for the knowledge I have about my Heavenly Father's love for me.
I am grateful for the roof over my head, the clothes on my back, and the food that I eat.
I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving

Gone, but NEVER forgotten

Today is a day of tender memories. Six years ago our nation fell victim to a heinous crime. I was at Snow College, my mom called me at about 8:50 am and asked if I was watching the news. I told her no and she told me to go turn it on. I went to the lounge and turned on the tv just in time to see the second building fall. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. How could this happen to a nation as great as ours. As the news spread the lounge filled up with people. People who lived in the dorm and people who didn't, who just wanted to be around friendly faces and loved ones.Classes were cancelled and everywhere we went it seemed there were teeming masses around a tv. Some friends and I decided that we were going to go into the neighboring town to the hospital and give blood. When we got there we were told that the only people who could take blood right then was the Red Cross. So trying to escape from the world around us we went to a small soda shop owned by our bishop. There we spent the day laughing and enjoying each other. In the back of my mind I kept wondering how life could go on and what would happen in they had to re-instate the draft. Would all of the young men I knew and loved be called into action?I wish that I could have stayed locked up in that place of peace and love. Coming home that evening I was greeted with another crisis. One of the girls in my dorm met me in tears. She told me that one of the other girls took a wholw bunch of pills and then took off and she needed help finding her. We gathered up as many as were willing to help and set off in search for her. We had alerted the authorities and were on the move. As we were crossing the campus we saw her walking and as we approached her she just crumpled. She received the help that she needed and we later found out the reason she did it. She had an uncle in the pentagon who was unaccounted for.

Rafting

This last weekend was a total blast. My ward went rafting just outside of Jackson Hole this weekend. We met at the church at 9:00 Thursday morning. After getting everyone and everything situated we set out. We stopped after two hours for lunch and then it was back on the road again. After another two hours we were finally there.
Thursday night brought food and a lot of fun. After an awesome dinner we played random games. Thursday night I sat and watched a fabulous meteor shower. I love the great outdoors. I was in a hotel room with my dear friend Ashlee, but outside was so great. Friday morning brought about excitement and a desire to get to the river. The first trip down the river was quite an adventure. When we hit the rapids "Big Kahuna" I, along with three others, was thrown out of the raft. After a brief lunch we went for round two. The second time down the river was far more fun than the first time down. The second time the group I was with was totally nuts. At one point three of the members of our boat pirated another boat. It was the funniest thing to watch. There were people flying all over the place. At another point, we became an animal orchastra. Hey, no one said we were sane.
Friday night we had our devotional and testimony meeting. I can't tell you how much I love the people in this ward. They are all amazing in their own right. After devotional, there was another round of games and some great blackmail moments. After I went to bed apparently there was quite a bit of action involving a few kids on four-wheelers, but that isn't my story and I don't know all of the details. Saturday morning came all to soon. I didn't want to leave these people that I had grown to love even more than I already did. Another four hours later we were home and now all I have left are some great memories.

Boy

Two years ago today I got a rather interesting phone call. I was eight months into my mission. I was serving in Morgantown, West Virginia and my companion was Ceptember Noall. It was a Friday and while we were in for lunch we got a call from our mission president, President Cowley. He told us that he was going to be in our area and told us he would like to come and see us. We told him okay and that we would wait until he got there. I got off the phone and jokingly asked my companion what she had done wrong. She asked me why and I told her that the mission president didn't make house calls unless something was wrong or we did something wrong. I told her after that I knew I didn't do anything wrong so it must have been her. We laughed and finished cleaning up the house so that it would look good when President and Sister Cowley got there.
About an hour and a half later President anad Sister Cowley got there and President Cowley told me he needed to talk to me. We went in the spare room and he shut the door. We both sat down and then with tears in his eyes he told me that I had another mission companion. I sat there a bit confused. He went on and told me that my mom had called and that my 14 year old nephew James had been in an accident and had passed away. I was in shock. President Cowley told me that if I wanted to go home we would find a way for me to do it. I told him that I wasn't going home because I knew that if I did I wouldn't be back out and I didn't come out to go home early. He then told me that on Sunday I could call home. For two days I worried about how I was going to tell my sister and mom that I wasn't coming home. I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to help me tell them and to help them understand. On Sunday when I called, the first thing my sister said to me was "Don't you dare come home. You are more use to us there then you are here." I cried knowing that Heavenly Father had heard and answered my prayer.
James, who had been dubbed by his little brother as "Boy", had just turned 14. He was at a family reunion at Flaming Gorge and they had all decided to go cliff jumping, something that they had been doing all day. I don't really know all of the details of this story so I am depending on my family to help fill in the blanks. All I really know about what happened was that James went to jump and stumbled causing him to belly flop from 30 feet. He ended up with internal injuries. They life flighted him to Primary Childrens Medical Center. He passed away later that day. My sister and brother-in-law decided to have his organs donated. A blessing for many families. James was a kind, fun-loving, and hard-working boy. He was a talented artist and he loved his siblings. He had a smile ready for everyone. He was working to earn money for a motorcycle the summer before he passed away. Last year, right after I got home we went and did James' temple work. James lived great and I know that he is helping others on the other side preparing them to recieve the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ

My Early Birthday

Tomorrow is my 24th birthday. I had an amazing early birthday last week however. On July 8th, my sister's birthday, my sister and I celebrated our birthdays together. My sister lives in Boise and I live in Ogden. We met in Twin Falls and went to dinner together. We opened presents together and the people in the restraunt thought that we were crazy. I loved it though. It was one of the best birthdays I have had. I spent the week following with my sister and for our birthdays we went and watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on opening night. Claudia, R.C., Briana, and I all dressed up and it was so much fun. Claudia and I were Gryffindor students, R.C. was a Slytherin, and Briana was the Fat Lady. It was great. For my birthday I got an MP3 player and a Tinkerbell steering wheel cover from mom. Claudia and R.C. got me my Harry Potter wand. The kids got me some other Tinkerbell stuff. It was a lot of fun. All in all I have had a great birthday and my birthday isn't even until tomorrow.

Total Wreck

I had quite a day yesterday. I got up and just like any normal day I got ready for work. I hopped into my car looking forward to the Stake swimming party after work. I headed out to make the drive to the temple. I was about 5 miles from work when it happened. I was in the left lane and two lanes over a car swerved into the lane next to me which in turn caused the car next to me to swerve into my lane. I swerved so that I didn't get hit. I lost control and spun before hitting the concrete divider. I was stunned and in tears. The first person that stopped was a nurse. He was amazing. He checked me over really quick and helped calm me down. Another young man stopped and the two of them finished moving my car off to the side of the road. Soon a Highway patrol man stopped. He took our statements and called a tow truck to take my car home.On the way home I realized how incredibly blessed I was. The accident could have been so much worse. Although the front of the my car was ripped off the only problems I had were a nasty welt on my neck and chest where the seatbelt caught me and bumps and bruises that I would discover later after the adreniline wore off. Heavenly Father was definately with me as I was driving. When I spun no other cars hit me, the concrete divider saved me from going into the other lanes, and my seatbelt saved me from going through the windshield. I know that I was being watched over because I really should have been more injured than I am. I know that I have a Father in Heaven who loves and watches over me. I know that He knows my every want and need. He blesses me daily and I know He is always there.

Tyler

Tyler.... The best friend that I have ever had. I never imagined that one of the friendships I cherished the most would start on a football field. Tyler was popular and of course I knew who he was, but he had no idea who I was. I met Tyler my junior year of high school. My friend, Tanya, told me I needed to play powder puff football with her. It wasn't for me...Not my kind of thing I told her. She was persistent though and I ended up playing. That is where mine and Tyler's story began. I was told I was going to be a linebacker and Tyler was going t o be my coach. “Great,” I thought, “I get to spend every day with this guy for a week and a half.” And with that I started to reconsider playing. Tyler was far nicer than I had ever expected him to be though. The day that I really started to consider him a friend was a long day. We had just played a full scrimmage in preparation for our game and one of the other coaches was making us run gassers. For those who don’t know one gasser is sprinting to the 50 yard line and back twice. We were on our third gasser when I slipped and twisted my ankle. The coach making us run started yelling mean and hurtful things at me that I won’t even repeat. He was also yelling that if I didn’t get up everyone was going to keep running. So, I go up and started hobbling back down the field. I made it about 5 yards when I went down again. This time I heard Tyler yelling that everyone was done. Tyler came down to where I was and asked me if I was okay. About that time my pride kicked in and I told him I was okay. He told me that I wasn’t allowed to walk; one of the other coaches would give me a ride home. I fought him on it and then he said, “If you don’t let someone take you home I will carry you all the way home.” Needless to say he got his way.From then on, I knew that I had a new friend. Tyler and I were in the same math class and because both of our last names started with O we sat near each other. In those classes Ty and I became better friends. One day I was walking through the halls on my way to class and I walked past Ty and his friends. I said hi to him and walked around the corner. One of his friends said something to the effect of why are you friends with her. She is a nobody. I stopped right around the corner because I heard that comment. I stood and waited for a reply from Tyler, unseen by all. Tyler asked him if he had ever had a conversation with me and the kid said, “Why would I want to?” Tyler then told him that until he had a conversation with me and got to know me he didn’t want to hear anyone bad mouthing me. I went inside of my class grateful for someone who cared. Mine and Tyler’s friendship progressed quickly after that. It got to the point where Tyler and I could communicate without words. He wore Addias Moves cologne and kept a bottle of it in his locker. I loved it and I would walk by his locker and he would hand it to me and I would spray it and give it back and keep walking. No words ever being said. It became a daily ritual.Our senior year both Ty and I were struggling with our school work. We were both working on make-up packets that we needed to do to graduate. Tyler and I worked together helping each other out. I finished mine and a week and a half before graduation I found out that I was going to graduate. Tyler hadn’t finished his packets yet and he told me that he wasn’t going to be able to walk with our class and that he was going to give up. I told him that we had worked to hard for him to give up and if he didn’t walk I wouldn’t either. It is a good thing he didn’t call my bluff because I don’t know if I would have been able to follow through. He finished everything and we both were able to walk with our class. After graduation I went to Snow College and Ty stayed here and worked. One particularly hard day I came home and there was a note from my roomie telling me to call home. I called home and my mom told me that there had been an accident and that one of my friends had died. Immediately four people went through my mind; Eric, MaryAnn, Kip, and Tyler. She then said it was someone I knew and she didn’t which eliminated Eric and MaryAnn. She then told me that it was Tyler. I was crushed. I hung up with her and tried to put on a happy face because I was supposed to be at a party for my friend Chris, who had just been elected student body president. I walked in and apparently my happy face wasn’t as happy as I had hoped because one of the guys there said jokingly, “If you aren’t going to smile you have to leave.” I walked out and sat on the porch followed by my friend Kelly. He asked what was wrong and when I told him He held me and cried with me. Kelly was my saving grace. When I came home for Tyler’s funeral Kelly called me every night to see how I was doing. You would think that after the funeral the story would be over, right? Well, in truth this is not the first time I have told this story. About a year after Ty died I wrote out this story as a kind of closure for me. I left it at Tyler’s grave thinking that no one would ever find it. The next week as I was leaving Ty’s grave a truck pulled up and I just had a feeling I needed to stop and talk to these people. As I was walking back the lady that was there looked at me and said, “You’re the one who left the letter huh.” I said yes and we started talking. The woman was Tyler’s step-mom. Tyler’s dad was there also. He told me things about Tyler that I never knew. He told me how Ty worked a full-time job to help support his sister in all of the things she did. Ty’s mom was struggling a lot and Ty paid for all of his sister’s cheerleading things. They also told me that my letter was in the china cabinet with all of Ty’s pictures. Talking to them helped me find even more closure and I am eternally grateful to a Heavenly Father who knows what I need when I need it.

Angels Incognito

Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and He often sends each of us Angels Incogneto. Aside from my mother and sister who provide much needed outlets Heavenly Father has provided me with a number of angels. All of them took the shape of friends and family. While I know that there are a lot of people who have influenced my life, there are four that stick out in my mind.The first one, Teresa, was a loving Young Womens leader who made sure I was involved in everything that was going on. There were times when she literally had to drag me kicking and screaming to get me involved in things. I fought her tooth and nail, but knowing now, that she loved me enough to put that much effort into me has made me a better person.The second one, Tyler, was a dear friend in High School. He is a story all his own and soon that whole thing will be written, but for now I will say that he went out of his way to make a lonely girl feel important. He stuck up for me when all of his friends thought that he was crazy for being friends with me.The third was a young man I met when I was going to Snow College. His name is Kelly. Kelly did things for me that no one else could have possibly done. He was a friend of my friend Emily. When we met we just kind of clicked. I had a thing for his roommate for a long time and Kelly was my confidante, my advice giver, and my friend. As time progressed Kelly became an important part of my life. One time, when his roommate and I were mad at each other, Kelly sent me flowers and instead of taking the credit he put his roommates name on the card so that we would be friends again. When Tyler died Kelly was my saving grace. I secluded myself in my room. The only reason I ate, went to class, and kept going was because Kelly made sure I did. When he got married I felt like my heart would break. My best friend couldn't be my best friend anymore. He had other responsibilities now.The thing is when someone leaves our lives Heavenly Father puts someone new in their place. That is where my fourth angel comes in. Juli...the most amazing girl I know. I met Juli one particularly difficult day. I don't really remember what was wrong, but I was sitting in the foyer of our church building crying. Juli was walking by and asked me if she could give me a hug. Right then I knew that Heavenly Father had placed another angel in my life. Juli was in the right spot at the perfect time. To this day, even though Juli has struggles of her own, she still manages to make me feel loved. She has an infectious smile and a love for everyone that astounds me. She is a breath of fresh air.I know that my Heavenly Father loves me, because he has sent me angels. My dear friends and family who I love and I couldn't make it without. I have been truely blessed