24 hours

~ Sea of Girls ~

The same weekend the Mouse was flying down hills on the triathlon,

I was with 40+ AMAZING young women from church, mostly ages 12 to 18,

and the rest of the leaders that love and adore these girls as much as I do.

Our challenge? To read "the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ"

aloud, straight through in 24 hours - all five hundred and something pages of it!

I'll never forget the moment I walked in and saw this endless sea of girls...

all these smiling faces that I love so much, everyone taking turns reading aloud,

the sight of them all and the sweet feeling in the room nearly drove me to tears.  

I have to hand it to our faithful leader Kerrie and these undaunted girls.

The majority of them have sports, after school activities, work, AP classes -

in other words, they do so much and never get enough sleep as it is!

Bless their hearts, they still participated, ALL of them had a great attitude,

they tried sooo hard to stay awake the whole time, and they were SO. MUCH. FUN.

We had special guests come read to us several times, even during the wee hours,

 lots of support from moms with food, and Brenda's amazing house to hold us all. 

I became weary and tired in a physical sense of course,

but never once did I tire of looking around at these young women,

and listening to the sound of their voices, and watching them interact,

and seeing how much effort they were putting into this challenge -

even at times when they whispered or giggled or chatted a bit too loudly :)

And my fellow leaders, I love you all so much - you are wonderful.

Oh, look at WALKER... she thinks she's so spiritual, reading her...

hey WAIT! She's not reading her scriptures! She's TEXTING!

She's breaking the rules RIGHT in front of the girls... that WALKER...

Awww... Tori and Katherine - how cute are you guys!!!

And so early in the morning too - wow! :)

Me and Kat-Dog! Obviously I've had a rough night and need a diet Coke. 

Yeah, I know - weirdest pic ever! It looks like we're superimposed, heh -

I don't even remember who took this! We had been caught texting again :/

I just want to say, the whole activity was an awesome experience.

I felt like the Spirit was very strong with us the entire time, especially

at the beginning when I first walked in, and the end when the Bishop spoke

and Kerrie spoke, and we prayed together. I am so proud of all you girls :)

xoxoxo

He Is Risen

"Christ the Lord is Risen Today - Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high - Alleluia!

Sing, ye heavens and earth reply - Alleluia!

"Love's redeeming work is done - Alleluia!

Fought the fight, the victory won - Alleluia!

Jesus' agony is o'er - Alleluia!

Darkness veils the earth no more - Alleluia!

"Lives again our glorious King - Alleluia!

Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!

Once he died our souls to save - Alleluia!

Where thy victory, O grave? Alleluia!"

"Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my load upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart

And ye shall find rest unto thy souls

For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

~ Matthew 11: 28-30

Have a *wonderful* Easter everyone! xoxo

the real reason

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, 

keeping watch over their flock by night. 

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, 

and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, 

I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you: 

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

~ St. Luke 2: 8-14

Merry, Merry Christmas Everyone!  xoxoxoxo