His Power is in Us

I recently found a Christian music radio station here in Vegas. One song that really hit me and made me think is a song by Jeremy Camp titled "Same Power." The chorus lyrics say: > "The same power that rose Jesus from the grave The same power that commands the dead to wake Lives in us, Lives in us! The same power that moves mountains when He speaks The same power that can calm the raging sea Lives in us, Lives in us!" > These lyrics made me think of the baptismal covenant and the sacrament prayers. We promise to take Christ's name upon ourselves, and Christ promises that He will always be with us. Christ can do ANYTHING. We need not fear the unknown or feel overwhelmed at what we are asked to accomplish. If we accept Christ into our lives, He will live in us and give us the strength, patience, power, whatever it is we need to do what is asked of us. > I recently gave a Relief Society lesson about the influence of music in our lives. While I was preparing for the lesson, I began to notice the lyrics of the current pop songs on the radio station that I was listening to. I did not agree with the ideas the songs were presenting. Alana is at the stage where she is copying everything anybody says. I did not want the words of the pop songs coming out of her mouth, even if she does not understand what those words mean. I can tell a difference in my attitude as well listening to these uplifting, Christ-focused songs, even if they are modern sounding songs. > I encourage anyone reading this to really listen to the lyrics of the songs you hear, and notice the feelings they inspire. Make a change if you need to. Music really does have a larger impact than we give it credit for.

Rambling Writing for a Purpose

Do you ever feel like you have lost your grip on life? For me, life over all is good. It seems like projects and deadlines are never ending and just keep sneaking up. Maybe its because I just roll with the days, but I feel like time is just rolling on and I have to keep up. I had the thought yesterday that maybe if I wrote daily I could gain something grounding. Most days I don't write because I don't take the time to stop and think about something meaningful to write about. Today is the first day I have decided I am going to write just to write something. It's amazing how when you're in school and you have all these daily assignments you are frustrated with them and can't wait to be done. Now that I have been out of school for 5 years, I feel like I need some assignment to write about. It appears that I have a need to have projects! I feel so lucky to have Andrew as my husband. I have never been one to plan my life way out in advance. Andrew is the driving force behind our financial success. He has also taken a big part in trying to figure out how we can get pregnant again. I know, I know! We just gotta get busy in the bedroom! It hasn't been quite that easy for us. I did get pregnant 3 months after my period returned, but unfortunately that ended in a miscarriage in June. We are now working diligently at it again. We have come to a conclusion that between timing it right and getting progesterone as soon as I find out is the biggest thing to help. When I got pregnant with Alana, we had a fertility doctor prescribe me some progesterone the same day I took a pregnancy test. That was the only difference between Alana and my two miscarriages. Here's to hoping we can get pregnant and stay pregnant again!

Adventure at Crawdad Canyon

I just remembered about having this blog and decided that I am going to post a blog about our latest adventure. I'm getting bored with Facebook... Andrew took a whole week off this last week, which I don't think we have had that much time off since we bought our house and Andrew started his job 4 years ago! Side note- Andrew is now the controller at his company, American Kiosk Management. He just worked his way right into that job. He's pretty much amazing. Anyways, we spent our first real vacation in St. George, UT. Andrew has gotten us into rock climbing and he found a little resort place full of various levels of climbs - Crawdad Canyon. It was a nice little canyon that we could climb until mid-day without getting too much sun, which in August in the southwest becomes unbearable. We were able to meet up with some friends, Aubree and Skylar, who were also on vacation in St. George. They came climbing with us one day. We spent our afternoons reading books and swimming. Alana was so funny at the swimming pool. She would get in the water for a little bit, but then all she wanted to do was run laps around the pool. She would sit on the edge and kick her legs to splash me in the pool, but then get up and run a few more laps again. Andrew read 4 different books and I read 2 books while on vacation. Our evenings were spent exploring the city. We spent some time at the St. George Temple and played at the park. It was so relaxing to be able to do whatever we wanted to do and not have to be anywhere at a certain time. We were only committed to ourselves and nobody else for a few days. We did meet up with my Grandmother, Yvonne Lyon, and my mom was in town as well, so we were able to get a 4-generation picture. Alana is sometimes reserved around new people, but she warmed right up to her Great-Grandmother and even gave her a kiss when we were saying goodbye! As we were walking around town, we saw a group of teenage girls with a flat tire on their minivan. Andrew was able to get the spare tire on for them. He felt really good being able to give some needed help. It was a grand adventure and I am looking forward to the next one!

Happy 4th of July from the top of Mt. Charleston!

My dad always likes to go hiking on the 4th of July. He invited all my brothers, my bro-in-law, Andrew, & his brother, Phil to go hike to the peak of Mt. Charleston - the highest peak in southern Nevada. By Tuesday afternoon, everyone had chickened out besides Andrew & Phil. They all used their kids as an excuse, but I think they really didn't want to do the insane hike! My mom and I decided we would go too. We had done the hike 9 years ago, so we knew what we were getting ourselves in to. The hike is 18 miles round trip. My dad had told us that he did the whole thing in 4.5 hours one time - 20 years ago. I figured we could make it under 10 hours easy! > Wednesday morning, my parents picked us up at 4:30 am and we all loaded in the car with packs full of trail mix, pretzels, pepperoni, cheese, crackers, and water. We started our hike at 5:45 am. After hiking for only 1 hour, we were already at the 3 mile marker. If we kept that pace, we would be done in 6 hours! After 5.5 hours, we finally made it to the top - only half way!

> After stopping for lunch, we headed back down the mountain just before 12:00 noon. I had invited friends over for a BBQ at 5:00pm, so we needed to be done and in the car by 4:00pm at the latest. Andrew and I went on ahead so he would have time to get the car from the parking lot where we started and we could all hop in the car as soon as we were done with the hike. It seemed like the switchbacks went on forever! Not to mention we basically walked through a cloud along the ridge! Andrew and I got down at 4:15, but by the time he got the car and everyone else was done, it was almost 5:00! Luckily, we were able to contact everyone and let them know to come after 6:00. > On the way up, we found a rock the shape of Nevada!

> Just after we left the peak, we saw debris from a plane crash that happened in the 1950s.

> At one point, I was leading the group - just walking with my head down watching the trail. When I looked up, this tree kind of freaked me out:

What do you see? > > Two days later, and we are all still sore! The best thing about the hike was that we can say we conquered the tallest peak in Southern Nevada! (and I lost 2 lbs thanks to that almost 12 hour hike!) > I kind of want to do the hike again to see if I could do it any faster. I guess that's the kind of crazy that runs in my family!

Before & After Pics of the House

Here is what we have done so far. The people we bought the house from had some interesting color choices. Front Before

Front After

Garage Before

Garage After

Living Room Before (from the front door)

Living Room Before (ugly built-in entertainment center)

Living Room After (from the front door)

Living Room After (minus ugly entertainment center) Andrew went to town with a sledge hammer on that beast!

Kitchen before

Kitchen After

Kitchen After

Master Bed Before (notice the nasty, smelly carpet!)

Master Bed After

Master Bed After

New Bedding

Master Bath Before

Master Bath After

Still left to do are the 2 spare bedrooms and the landscaping. I just started a pretty neat but complicated paint job in one room yesterday. I am pretty excited for that to be finished!

New House

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!! We have been in the house for 8 months now, but we don't have internet so I am never able to post pictures! The house is about 2 miles from my parents and 1/2 a mile from my sister. It is nice to have family close even if we don't hang out a whole lot. Andrew is getting closer and closer to paying up for internet service, so hopefully I can get some pictures up when that happens!

My Goal

So I have been trying off and on to lose about 20 lbs. I have not been successful because I keep getting distracted by life. This week, I have decided to be more dedicated and commit to exercising and eating well. I will be posting my food journal and exercise log here for everyone to see. You may not enjoy it, but if it works, hopefully it will inspire you to live a healthier lifestyle. This is mostly for me.

Monday, November 14, 2011
Breakfast(9:30am): fried egg, ham, and cheese on an english muffin
Snack (11:00am): Banana
Lunch (1:30pm): Backed potato w/ cheese, salsa, sour cream, and green onions
Dinner (6:30pm): Bowl of chicken chili and rye bread

Swam 1hr (2500yds)

The Best 3 Years of My Life!

3 years ago today, Andrew & I got married for time and all eternity! I can't believe that it has already been 3 years! Here are some things that we have done since we got married:

- Both graduated w/ a Bachelor's Degree
- Lived in:
Rexburg, ID
Mesquite, NV
St. George, UT
Las Vegas, NV
- Traveled across the country and visited:
Pittsburgh, PA
Washington, DC
New York City, NY
Palmyra, NY
- Andrew started Grad School and will be finishing in August
- Started the Ward Champion Ultimate Frisbee Team

I have been trying to remember how life was before I met Andrew, and I can remember the stuff that I did. At the same time though, I don't remember life without Andrew. Life is so good and I am so happy being with Andrew, that I can't remember how I was happy before he came into my life. I am so glad that I get to be with him forever - for eternity! I am so excited for the many more years and adventures that we are going to have together!!!

How was MY weekend?!

This past weekend was the world-wide broadcast of the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. President Uchtdorf challenged the members to share spiritual messages with our friends and family through texting and blogging. He mentioned that the question "How was your weekend?" is often answered by telling about the sports events, movies, or social events that we attended. He then encouraged us to share what we learned at Church over the weekend when we are asked how our weekend was. So between my desire to more frequently update my blog and this simple suggestion from this great leader, I have decided that every week I am going to post some gospel nugget that I gained from Church.

Some of my favorite sermons from the General Conference included topics about family, trials, and service. One of the 12 Apostles spoke mostly about his late wife, who he knows he will see again and their love will be even stronger after their time being separated by death. It was also very precious to me to see all of the apostles leaving the Conference center with their beautiful lives. There is something wonderful about seeing our leaders arm-in-arm with the loves of their lives!

Right now I cannot remember who gave the other sermon that I really enjoyed, but it was about enduring through our trials. I love the analogy he gave about climbing a mountain: The hardest part is usually the final climb to the summit, which if we make it to the top, we can enjoy the magnificent view of the valleys and canyons below. Many times our hardest trials and darkest moments are followed by marvelous miracles that we could not have experienced if we do not endure.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to hear from the leaders of our Church. They are truly inspired men and they want us to be happy and achieve eternal life. I know that this is Christ's church and that I must always be an instrument in His hand to help His work and glory move forward.

It's Been A While...

So not too much has happened in the last 5 months, hence the lack of blog posts. Here is a little list of some things we have been up to:

Rachel:
- called as 2nd Counselor in Ward Young Women's Presidency
- Joined Las Vegas Masters Swim Team and starting back into competing this weekend
- Thinking about starting a Pie Shoppe

Andrew:
- called as 2nd Counselor in Ward Elder's Quorum Presidency
- in 2nd semester of Grad School (Accounting) @ UNLV, also working as a Graduate Assistant there
- Continues buying stock/investing books
- Starting a 'Tax Business' (if you want your taxes done for cheap, let me know!)

It has been nice to have Sunday dinners with my family every weekend. We also have had visits from some friends from Idaho (Kate & Nate Mower, Jet Arnett), as well as my cousin & her husband. Probably the best thing about living in Las Vegas is it is a wonderful half-way point for many people. So, if you are ever traveling through Las Vegas, give us a holla and we will feed you and show you a good time!

ANNOUNCING....

So I had a nice little surprise waiting for me in my mailbox today. It was the key to the large package mailbox. As we made our way to the mailbox labeled on the key, Andrew & I racked our brains to figure out what large package we could be expecting. Upon opening the compartment and seeing my waiting package, the only words that I could say were: "I JUST GOT MY DIPLOMA!!!"

For those of you who know of the frustration that I have gone through, I imagine you will share in my excitement! Since the beginning of the year, whenever I would mention that I have a degree in child development, Andrew would correct me that I almost have that degree. However, now no one can ever say that I did not finish college.

The sense of accomplishment & completion is amazing! I never thought that this is what it would feel like to finish something so big as a college degree! For those of you who may be wondering if school is for you: if for no other reason, do it to say you did it!

Our Newest Family Member

Moving back to Vegas has been a lot of fun! Rent is less than $450, so we are saving money to buy other things. We had some friends, Taney & Alexis Kurth, who had a Toyota Tacoma that they didn't need anymore. It also overheated quickly because the radiator was busted. We took the truck off their hands for them for $1,000, and then got it fixed up for only $500! However, we did not get it entirely fixed. Taney had rear-ended someone (that's how the radiator got busted) so the front bumper is dented and sagging a little. There also wasn't room for the A/C radiator when we put the new radiator in, so we don't have any air conditioning. We drive mostly the Honda, but the truck is handy for lots of things, like: picking up our bed 2 days early, giving the missionaries rides with their bikes tossed in the back, hauling a dresser across town from my parents house, and many other amazing opportunities! It is so nice having a truck, much less a second car!

Elevated Sleeping

When we lived in St. George for 4 months, all we had to sleep on was an air mattress. When that adventure was coming to an end, Andrew promised me that, once we got our own place here in Vegas, we could get a bed. Well that promise came true yesterday! I came home earlier this week to find lvfurnituredirect.com pulled up on the computer. Andrew told me that he decided it is time that we got our bed! He said that I am so good to him & patient with him, that I deserve my bed. I am so glad that my usually complacent nature is translated as patience!
So Friday we went down to the warehouse/showroom to look at the bed that Andrew liked best from the website. When we got there, he decided that it wasn't that cool, so I got to pick my favorite bed that was on display. They told us the bed would be delivered either Saturday or Monday.
I work from 8-2 on Saturdays, so when I got off work I called Andrew to see if our bed came today. He said, "No, they didn't deliver it today." I was a little disappointed as anyone would be. When I got home, the bedroom door was closed. After a couple of minutes passed and I still hadn't gone in the bedroom, Andrew hinted at the fact that the bedroom door was in fact closed. I opened the bedroom door, and sitting in the middle of our room was OUR BED!!!! At first I accused him of lying to me, but he technically didn't because he said that the company hadn't delivered it. After calling them to find out if they would not be delivering our bed until Monday, he decided to take our Toyota Tacoma down to the warehouse and pick it up himself.
Now whenever we are home, we just chill on our bed, instead of sitting on the couch. This is the first time since we've been married that our bed is not sitting directly on the floor. I had forgotten how wonderful elevated sleeping is!

I need your input!!!

Okay faithful friends: I need your help! I have decided to start teaching private swim lessons, but I need a business name. The only one that I can come up with is Swift Swimming. Andrew says that it is too generic (& I think he's jealous that I'm using my maiden name!). Let me know if you like it or if you can think of something else. I would really appreciate it!

Trip Back East

Andrew & I just got back from traveling the country. We spent some time in Oregon with his family, drove to Pittsburgh with his friend, Greg, visited my cousins in Washington D.C. & NYC, and spent a day in Palmyra, NY! It was a great little vacation. The best part was that everything in DC is free...our kind of vacation!!! Pictures soon to come!

We also found ourselves a nice little apartment! It is in a little bit older part of Las Vegas, but older = bigger & cheaper! We move in on Tuesday, June 1. I am so excited to finally stop living out of boxes & suitcases!

Birthday Celebration!

I love birthdays! My birthday may be the catalyst for this post, but I love all birthdays! While I was at work, I had a wonderful conversation with a lady from NYC. When she found out that it was my birthday, not only did she sing 'Happy Birthday' to me, but she also gave me a new insight to birthday celebrations. She said that birthdays are an opportunity for our loved ones to celebrate that they have us! Without your birthday, you would not be here, and how wonderful it is that we can be living today!

So on your next birthday, refrain from thinking that you are another year older. Instead, think about how blessed you are to have lived another year with those people that you love and that love you!

To everyone who I may not get a chance to tell you 'Happy Birthday' on your birthday:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Move #2 in 2010

For the second time this year already, we are moving. We are only moving from the west side of St. George, bordering Santa Clara, to the east side of St. George, bordering Washington City, but we still have to pack up everything. However, we are only going to be living in this new place for one month. So move #3 will be coming shortly. Right now is the time that I am so very thankful that Andrew is a minimalist! I have spent 1 hour so far packing, and I already have the closet & bathroom packed, as well as 1/3 of the kitchen. All I have left to pack is our food and 1/2 of our dishes, and the bedroom. Packing up the bedroom consists of deflating the air matress and packing the sheets.

I cannot wait for the day that we know we will be some place long enough to get a real bed! A real bed that consists of a matress and a box spring, as well as a head & foot board! Hopefully that day will come soon!!!

Palm Trees & Swans!

This weekend was pretty eventful and fun!

On Saturday, Andrew helped one of the guys from work plant a palm tree in their front yard. We did get some pictures of them transfering the tree from the truck to the hole, which was pretty entertaining to watch! Hopefully we will be able to get some of those from them at some point! After they were done with Bryan's tree, they started talking to the guy across the street. He had been planning on getting a palm tree, but he didn't want to dig the hole, so he paid Andrew 50 bucks to dig the hole for him! Now Andrew's back is very sore! Poor guy; except he is $50 richer!

Sunday after church, we went to feed the ducks, but we decided to go to a different pond on the golf course. Last week as we drove by this pond, we noticed there were swans there! When we got to the pond yesterday, the swan was chillin' on the golf course across the pond from us. When it realized that we were feeding the ducks it came flying over. It's wingspan was amazing, and it was so graceful! When it landed, it was like it was waterskiing! It was really neat! Unfortunately, our camera was out of batteries! We plan on going back to that pond this Sunday. Hopefully we will be able to get a picture of it flying! I have never seen a swan before, and I never thought that I would see one in St. George, UT of all places!!!

Locked Out

Last night was pretty eventful...I locked the keys in the car! I was at the grocery store, and apparently they can't help you get back into your car because people have broken into other people's cars that way! Also, the police can't help you unless a little kid is trapped inside because people have sued the police for scratching their paint job or window while trying to open the car. A locksmith charges $59 and gets pissed if you tell him your going to see if any other lock smith is closer and cheaper. I finally called Andrew at work, and luckily one of the guys at the office has AAA roadside assitance. However, they were not going to be able to get to the store until 9 or 10, which would mean I was stuck at the store for 2 1/2 hours. Thankfully I had the number of a lady in the ward who came to pick me up and give me a ride home. However, when I got home, I could not get the front door unlocked! Since we have a garage door opener, that's how we always get in the house. So this kind, patient lady waited for almost 5 minutes while I was trying to get into the house. She came to help me unlock the door, and my only problem was that I was turning the key the wrong way!

*SIGH*

I felt like such an idiot last night, to say the least! I did the one thing that Andrew is always telling me not to do (in his own words): "This is our only key to the car, so whatever you do, do NOT lock the keys in the car!" WOW! I totally blew that one!

No Regrets

A young father in our ward died last week. He had a 6-month old baby. Andrew learned in Elder's Quorom (Priesthood) that this young father was probably one of the less-active members in the Church. Andrew told me that in Priesthood, they talked for a little while about always being prepared. Have we done all that we can do? As visiting and home teachers, have we visited our families, especially the less-active members? We never know when someone is going to leave this life.

We watched the movie "Love Happens" over the weekend. The guy had lived for 5 years with the feeling that he had killed his wife in a car accident that happened during an argument about paint colors. I know it has been said before, but we need to treat the ones we love like we really love them.

It is one thing to have regrets like never owning a helicopter. But hopefully, whenever it is our time to leave this life and join our family that has gone before us, we will not have spiritual regrets.