Father's Day

Like most holidays these days, I wasn't able to be home with my family. Sometimes I miss those traditions that we have or I am sad that I'm missing out on time spent together. But wherever I am in the world, I am still able to celebrate whichever holiday it may be!

I was in California this year for Father's Day but I still thought about my dad all day!! 

I LOVE MY DAD. Here's why:

• He's a hard worker. Not only at his day job, but at serving, working at home, building relationships, and just in life. No matter how tired he is or how long he's been working, he always does a job well done.

• He is FUN. He thinks he's pretty cool (which he is) but he's always up for anything. He's really good at games and he always makes vacations the best, and he has an awesome smile and laugh!

• He's athletic and loves sports. My life would probably be very different if I didn't gain a love and appreciation for sports from my dad. He taught me the rules, was always supportive of my sporting events, and always made sure we had fun as a family. We got to play pickleball together a couple weeks ago and I just loved it. He also got me tickets to the Mariners vs. Red Sox game (my two favorite teams) so basicalllyyy he's pretty awesome. And some of my favorite memories growing up are of him playing softball during the summer. He also climbed two mountains this summer which I think is pretty awesome. 

• He is loving and caring. To his wife, to his kids, to his ward family, to any and all children. He really loves people and knows how to make them feel loved. He is really good at encouraging people to be their best. The babies always love him. Seriously. Pictures of my dad and babies are theee cutest. 

• He's a great example not only of spiritual strength, but also of having strong relationships. I love hearing about when my parents go to the temple together, or about the awesome service they were doing. I love when he asks questions just to hear our opinion. I love how we always read the scriptures together as a family. I love how we always watched conference together. I love how he has always been a worthy priesthood holder and baptized us and always gave us blessings before school started. I loved growing up with so many family members nearby. I love seeing him interact with his mom and his siblings and how close they are. How they spend time together and catch each other up on their lives and do things together often. I love that they still call each other and check up on each other. It's awesome

My dad is just amazing and I'm so glad he's mine! I got to facetime him for a little bit on Father's Day and I'm so glad I did. When I talked to my mom, she said, your dad must really love you because he's talking to you while the Warriors are playing! In my defense, I did call during half time ;) haha!

country vs. city

I'm teaching at a school in the middle of nowhere. It is such a small town that I'm pretty sure they don't even have a grocery store. The students wear cowboy boots with their shorts and love things like rodeos and demolition derbys. They all know what a farm is and are obsessed with horses. I went to a track meet in the next town over in the spring and it had such a unique feel. It's the kind of town where everyone knows everyone, they have livestock at the high school (and you can smell it) and everyone is wearing boots, checkered shirts, and hats.

Sometimes I think that I really like that kinda stuff. It puts a smile on your face and makes you think of every good country song you've ever heard. It reminds me of my mission in the south. I think sometimes the country is really beautiful and there's nothing like sitting on the porch swing drinking lemonade and then watching the stars at night.

But then I remember the city. The energy that's there. All the hustle and bustle. The diversity of the people you run into there. The fact that you could have a sports game, a broadway show, a huge convention, and tons of shopping and eating all going on at the same time within blocks of each other. The city lights and the traffic. It's all so exciting! Walking on the sidewalks, maybe staying in a fancy hotel, or just there for the night. It's always an adventure and I love every minute of it.

I think there has to be some balance in our lives. The ability to appreciate both. I'm grateful for where I grew up, kind of a small town but definitely a city suburb, two beautiful cities within an hour away. It is so fun! And growing up where I did allowed me to appreciate the beauty of the country and learning to enjoy taking a step back and slowing things down. It's never boring in the country, it's relaxing.

And there's so much to learn! I've always been one that loves to learn about different cultures and sometimes that doesn't take you too far from home.

summer vibes

If there's one thing we're good at, it's having a jam-packed weekend full of  F U N.

thursday:

We went down to Manti visit Grandma T and to see the Manti Pageant. My belief is that it's something you just have to do at least once in your life. It was an absolutely gorgeous night.

We've decided that to get Greta to come someplace with us we just have to make a stop at Sodalicious and she's all in. 

I love any excuse to wear my cowboy boots. And what a more perfect place to wear them at than at a rodeo. It was so fun! It was just all around exciting and sometimes scary.

 my two faves

The very next day we got to go to Orem Fest to watch the fireworks!! I never get sick of watching firework shows. Plus, we have just the greatest friends in the world. 

I am totally loving any bit of summer I can get!

The Golden State

I'm becoming a huge fan of weekend getaways. Mitch and I hopped on a plane and it definitely fed my adventurous soul. If only I had money to do these kinds of things more often.

Off we went to HEMET, CALIFORNIA. Hometown of Mitch. It is in Southern California just about 90 minutes north of San Diego and is in a valley so it is HOT. 

It was a jam-packed weekend full of family and fun. Mitch's brother came home from his mission, serving in the Kentucky Louisville Mission. He returned with a cowboy hat and boots to match. 

I realized as I'm writing this post that I didn't take any pictures the whole weekend. Such a bummer! Now the only thing I have to remember the trip are just my words. 

We went to visit his grandparents who live around the corner. They are the sweetest. Old people are the best. The two greatest features of the house were the tree closet and the candy closet. Not even kidding, they have a closet that is big enough to fit an  e n t i r e  Christmas Tree plus the train tracks. That way they never have to take it down during the year, it just slides right into the closet. So. Cool. 

The candy closet was just a bigger version of my grandma's candy counter. Just full size candy bars and every other candy you can imagine all in boxes. By the door are plastic baggies where all visitors are invited to grab a bag and fill it with whatever candy they want. Let's just say we were set for the trip home. 

We spent the afternoon in the pool, playing water basketball, talking, dunking people, diving, and trying to warm up in the hot tub. 

That evening we got the house/outside ready for the new Stars Wars movie viewing. Just a big screen in the backyard complete with all the movie treats you could imagine. It was the perfect summer night!

Before the movie, Mitch took me up to the roof of the house to watch the sunset. 

I'm kind of a sucker for pretty sunsets, rooftops, and handsome boys. 

I'm also a fan of California. 

There's just something about sunshine and palm trees that gets me. 

Sunday was the homecoming and family dinner. I was very impressed at church by all the people that absolutely raved about Mitch. It was so fun for me to see where he came from and how he was raised and to see how much people appreciate and love him! I mean, we hadn't been dating that long, but it definitely helped convince me that he's a good guy ;)

This is Hudson. He's the cutest 4 year old you'll ever meet. Everything that comes out of his mouth is hilarious.
When he first walked in the house and said hi, he asked me where my lamb was haha! His dad has quite the sense of humor...

                

We spent any spare time touring the city. Going to his dad's office, driving by the high school, their old house, going to the grocery store, the Ramona bowl, playing piano duets with his mom, and talking to lots of extended family that were there to see Andrew. 

On Sunday night, we drove down the street to see the bats. There are thousands of bats that sleep under this bridge during the day and then each night they all fly out from under the bridge. It was SO COOL but also kinda creepy. 

The weekend went by way too fast and it was a blast! Sign me up for the next trip!

human rights/TELL

So I kind of nerded out over my social studies homework last week. We had to watch this video and at the beginning I was kind of skeptical about it (just thought it was going to be one of those boring videos and that you just can't wait to get through) but it totally wasn't! It quickly turned into one of the BEST videos I have ever seen!

I have always like history. But one of the things I liked the most about it is that it related the history of human rights which shared stories of things that I am very familiar with. The most recent was when Cyrus the Great let the Jews return to Jerusalem. It was so cool to see something that I could connect with!

I learned the next day in class that I wasn't the only one that thought this was so great. Some of my classmates had even shared it on Facebook. Human rights is definitely something to think about especially with all of the turmoil of today and I loved considering what truly matters most and what we, as humans, are entitled to. This was huge in the founding of our country and also when we think about being children of God and the rights we have as a result of that as well.

I shared the video with my mom and she called me later to tell me how much she loved it too and all the extra research she had done. She looked up The Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was written in 1948 and found that Article 16 says:

Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.

She then compared that to The Family: A Proclamation to the World which indicated the church's stance on the importance of the family which wasn't written until 1995. How cool that a document that was written 50 years previous outlined values and rights that are extremely important to the church and our way of life. Even though the family is currently under attack, it gives me hope that we have such documents to refer to and that serve as a reminder that there are people in society who do feel the same way as us. 

I also have been thinking about how this relates to my Teaching English Language Learners class on Family, School, and Community Partnerships. We have discussed thoroughly the rights of individuals and becoming more aware of our beliefs and how they impact our behavior in interacting with others. It is amazing to me how our experiences directly affect our opinions and biases of other cultures and those around us. Especially as teacher, it's extremely important to see student's potential and to help them be successful regardless of their background or the support they are getting at home or how they act in the classroom. There are just plain basic human rights that everyone is entitled to and we need to treat people as such.