it's official

I suck at blogging (among other things). I thought I would have a desire to do it more now that I have a functioning computer and the internet at my house, but mostly I have just wasted my time doing other things that are less important. So today I am taking the initiative to blog, and hopefully this will be the start of better things.

This is something I have been meaning to post about for a really long time because it is something that touched my heart in ways that you cannot imagine. Remember this post? Well, I have never claimed to be a gardener and I honestly don't enjoy any part of it, but my backyard was screaming for some love and attention. I also don't have anyone that is willing to help me with things around the house, so it is all up to me. Well, before I left to go to Utah my home teachers came over. Before leaving they asked the typical, "Is there anything we can do for you?" question. I usually never respond, but just as a joke I said, "You can weed my backyard for me." Ok, so maybe it was more of a cry for help than a joke. Anyway, they asked to see my backyard, which I {reluctantly} showed them and then they left saying, "Don't be surprised if your backyard is weeded when you get home from Utah."

Never, in a million years, did I believe they would actually do it. But they did! And I LOVE THEM for it! I got home from Utah really late on Sunday night and had completely forgotten that the conversation had even taken place. But then it came into my mind and I had to go look outside. It was dark, but I could already tell that my backyard was weeded. At that very moment I got a little teary eyed. It was a true blessing! I am so grateful to have such awesome and caring home teachers. Thanks guys! My backyard looks amazing...don't you think?

Another somethin' somethin' I have been meaning to post about also happened at the beginning of April. It was conference weekend and the girls decided to have a little girls' night while the boys were at the Priesthood session. After playing a mean game of Quelf (highly recommended... but only with people you feel extremely comfortable with) we decided to go forking. Maybe it's an Arizona thing, but I had never heard of forking before. The idea is that you get a bunch of forks and stick them in people's front yards. Fun right? Yeah, it was!

We only had access to clear forks, so we wrote little messages on the forks to make them a little bit more visible. We wrote all of the fork related comments we could think of, like: fork it over; Forks, Washington; fork, it's what's for dinner; etc. They didn't all make sense, but we did the best we could. Oh, and we even decided to stick one spoon in the mix just for fun. Here is the proof:

Here is Tricia using a "dinglehopper" (the name given to a fork on 'The Little Mermaid' that Ariel used to brush her hair with):

And here are the signs we made to let our culprits know that they had been forked, with love:

And, here are we are placing the forks in the yard of our unexpecting victim. Side note: forking works best in yards that contain grass... rocks are not recommended {as we discovered the hard way}. The pics are a little dark, so you will need to use your imagination:

We may or may not have forked our Branch Presidents' house.

Moving on...

Yesterday was my one month anniversary of going through the temple! I have been very dedicated to going to the temple once a week since then, and I am happy to announce that each time I go I get a little better and understand a little more. I LOVE the feeling that comes from attending the temple. A peace is felt inside the temple that cannot be felt anywhere else. A couple of weeks ago I spent some time outside of the temple just trying to appreciate the beauty of the temple grounds before entering. The temple grounds are beautiful and just walking around the temple brought me so much peace. Here are a few of the breathtaking sights I caught around the Mesa temple:

The temple truly is magnificent. It is the house of the Lord. I love going there and feel so blessed to have a temple so close to me!

Last weekend my parents and I went to our cabin in Snowflake. We decided to do a temple session while we were there. The temple was a smaller temple, but still so beautiful. I am grateful that I was able to experience another one of the Lord's temples.

And then yesterday I was privileged to attend the Gila Valley temple open house with my singles branch. The temple is about 2 1/2 hours away so we all carpooled over. Once we got there we had a nice little dinner and then attended the open house. For those of you who don't know, an open house is just as it sounds. The temple is opened to the public so that they can see the beauty in the temple before it is dedicated and before any sacred ordinances take place there. I would highly recommend going to a temple open house if you have the opportunity. There is definitely a feeling of reverence and peace that comes from entering within it's walls. It was gorgeous! And I hope that I can find time to go do a session there soon!

I am a happy girl. I am so blessed. And I am so excited for the possibilities my future holds.

Speaking of excited, I am going to be an aunt again this Thursday! I don't yet know the name of my newest little nephew, but I already love him and can't wait to see him in a month and a half.

Woohoo!