what's been on my mind

“Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon. To believe that someone or something can make us feel offended, angry, hurt, or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation.” Elder David A. Bednar

                                       

“Let them alone. Let them go.

Give them the liberty of speech they want.

Let them tell their own story." Joseph F. Smith

            

 

Both of these quotes have stuck with me since coming across them preparing my talk. i love them both because of the power in them. the power that is ours if we just realize we have control over our actions. we have the opportunity and agency to CHOOSE what we WANT...

we are a happy fa.mi.ly...

this past sunday julius and i had the opportunity to speak in church
i told my parents about the assignment. and in response they said great! we'll be there.
i had forgot...i dont live thousands of miles away and that they could come listen.
panic set in, b/c its my parents and entire family coming to hear me speak. but i soon realized it was probably one of the best things that could have happened.
it was an opportunity for me to express my testimony with my family and i am truly grateful all of them were able to come.
i just love them and so grateful they are mine forever...

"With the Lord, families are essential. He created the earth that we could gain physical bodies and form families. He established His Church to exalt families. He provides temples so that families can be together forever."
-Russel M. Nelson

regardless the temperature outside (which btw has been 100+ for 30+ days)
it is a MUST that we have blankets :)

roadtrip to missouri

my mom and i went on a little roadtrip to bolivar, missouri to pick up my brother from college

on they way there we stopped by this little gem of a store 

it was lovely 

and the fudge to die for

(raspberry chocolate swirl & this amaZing veggie dip)

joplin missouri.

f5 tornado

the devastation was unbelievable

and so saddening 

people's lives were literally blown away

the building to the right was a hospital

its remarkable to see metal wrapped around a tree

i cant even begin to comprehend the power and magnitude of a tornado that can 

throw scraps of metal around like paperclips

amidst all of the destruction there was hope and love for our country

 broad stripes and bright stars waved on

god bless america

and 

god bless the people of joplin

finally...after all the stops

we made it to BOILVAR

arent we just the cutest

the little brother

hes a keeper

our next stop.....

was a small town outside of springfield 

absolutely beautiful

such a fun roadtrip with people i love

ice in july

all the girls right to left: kim, stacie, hillary, me, carla and chelsea

how do you escape the ridiculously hot texas sun?? go to an ice rink.

lace em' up tight girls...

cute chelsea getting her game face on

one more quick shot before carla and stacie step onto the ice

hillary, me, kim, chelsea, and carla

only half of us got the sexy pose memo...hmmm

nice

pretty impressive... right 

especially since you cant see me griping on to the side of the wall for dear life gritting my teeth saying take the picture! take the picture!

kim and i enjoying our break from the sun

me and stacie
this was such a fun day but i must admit ice skating is not my forte.
saying that i think ive filled my ice skating void for the year.
until next year ice skate :)

its called...watermelon rugby

watermelon rugby: first crisco up a watermelon. second is the goal of game. be the first team to make a goal without breaking open the watermelon (*goal located on ledge of pool)

it gets a little intense...julius is holding on to dear life for that watermelon

be.utiful form babe

GOOOOAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLL!

what i love most about this picture is:

that the watermelon is on the complete opposite side of the pool and there are still guys hanging all over julius. hilarious.

high five

brooke and i just enjoying the game

tennis pro.

my mom is a straight up baller! looks at her extension

nothing like a little strategy to through the opponent

i love to watch my mom play tennis...it's finally her time to be the one on the court after all the countless games she watched from football, basketball, softball, volleyball and baseball.
she has such spunk on the court and really understands the game of tennis.
i get so rilled up as i watch her and try to somewhat compose myself (mainly not stand up and say something to the effect of "nice try sucker, my mom is amazing").i get super excited to think one day i'll have my own little ones and be able to watch them play sports, dance or compete in whatever their little heart desires.
i cant wait!

he's back....

colton, c-train, cole or aka trouble is back in the lone star state
and i couldn't be happier!

we had such a fun day swimming and nana's and papa rob's

with many cannon balls, noodle fights, and water gun wars

such a cheeser

this boy has so much love for his mama
it is the sweetest thing to see

 
me: "colton, make a silly face"
colton: "why?"
so this was the result

 

just to preface:

rudi belle on the right :) loves to antagonize (and when i say antagonize i really mean kill. i think it gives her a sense of pride and that she can protect us...really i have no idea) the lizards.

and naturally colton is very interested in the whole ordeal

hence the picture above,

LIZARD CATCHERS!!!

he's a professional

FINALLY..he's able to dunk his head under the water
without having to have a minor freakout because there is water on his face.

 it's amazing to see how much happiness and laughter this boy brings into our family. we all missed him very much while we was in idaho, but we are so happy to have him back home!
love you colton
                - love always asia
(for some reason adria is really hard for him to pronounce...so he calls me asia)