Testimony/Random Thoughts

Here are some random thought that I have been thinking about:
1- God will NEVER leave us. Ever. He is always there and will help us if we need it, and it's His will.
2- Just because we pray for something, doesn't mean that we will get it. It just goes back to it's all His will and we need to trust him enough and have strong enough faith that His will is what is best for us. Because really, in the end, His way, is always the better way for us. Even if we can't see that now.
3- God knows each of us individually. He knows our strengths, fears, desires, heartaches, sorrows, what makes us happy, even our favorite color. He knows it all.
4- Christ suffered for us, so we need to try our hardest to live as he did.
5- Serving others is serving Christ and it makes us better people along the way.
6- Family is the center of God's plan. Raising children in the gospel is one of your biggest jobs here on earth. If you don't do the best you can- it is on your head on judgement day. If you do- and they still fall away, just love them anyways.
7- Just because someone doesn't like you, doesn't mean you shouldn't love them back.
8- There will be fights and disagreements, but in the end, how you solve them is what really matters.
9- Remember that there is always someone who knows what you are going through.
10- Trials are truly there to make us stronger. God didn't put them there to make us fail. He knows that we are capable of getting though them and becoming a better person because of them. It's how we choose to react to them is what really determines the outcome.
11- We are all different. That's totally ok. If we were all the same, life would be boring. And easy. Differences are what make us love (and hate I guess) each other.
12- The scriptures are true. They were written for our time. One man would not go through so much for something that was not the truth.
13- Church attendance is important. For some it may seem like the same thing over and over again. For me- I literally learn something new every time because I go with the right attitude of searching and learning.

Girls Weekend!

First- I just realized how funny the title sounded, because at our house- it's a girls weekend every day!

What we did:
A lot of hot tub laughter and stories
Movie night with sing-a-longs, dance-a-longs, and balling (a lot of balling, one word- Charlie)
All day at the beach
Sex talk with delicious hamburgers and shakes
Laughter, laughter and more laughter
Lots o' cards
Rode awesome bikes
Yummy food
Shopping!

And basically all the other things you get at a girls weekend- drama, fighting, crying, not knowing how to do stuff, boy talk... all that great stuff!

Ok- I do have to tell this one story...
So we were sitting at this yummy hamburger places eating. I have no idea how, but we got on the subject of sex. Surprisingly, that wasn't that surprising. So we were talking and we got on the subject of showering together, I think it was because we had showered together the night before or something.... but then Katie goes, "well my parents have NEVER showered together!" The funny thing- she was pretty sure of it, and was willing to bet 20 bucks on it. We just laughed at her innocence and told her that every married couple does it. I even told her that you do weirder stuff than that when you are married. But she was still sure that they hadn't showered together. So, she calls her mom. Here is how the conversation went-
Katie- "Mom, I have a really weird question. Have you and dad every showered together?"
Natalie- "Do you really want me to answer that?"
Katie- "yes...."
Natalie- "Well of course we have"
Katie- (with a look of complete horror on her face) "more than once?" (she is freaking out soooo bad! It's' hilarious!)
Natalie- "yes. You know, it's not only to get clean!"
Katie- *screams and is basically crying.
All the rest of us- *laughing our heads off, barely able to breathe

Then we talked with her mom a little bit more. Let's just say, Natalie's answers and the look and reaction of Katie were priceless. I wish I would have thought to record!

Snow Cones on the way there. Grandpa faces. Theater room.  Hot tub. 

Make an ugly face. 

More ugly faces. Showering together. Ping-Pong. 

View. Lake Lake Lake. 

Sunburn. Heart shake. Pictures. 

Card Games. Moses Stick. Riding cool bikes.

What I learned at this weekend...
#1- I will never ever ever ever in a million years be a lesbian. I think that explains itself.
#2- I like boys. (see #1)
#3- Girls cry. A lot.
#4- My cousin Katie, is innocent.
#5- My aunt and uncle have showered together (no surprise to me, but it was to Katie, go back one)
#6- I am getting better and better at nerts. But I still can't beat my cousin Lindsay...
#7- Getting a sunburn really hurts if you go into a hot tub.

Blessed are they that mourn

So apparently, I'm pathetic. I don't want to go into a lot of detail, but pretty much I was having a hard time with something in my life, something that I don't have, and I was just really having a hard time with it one day. I couldn't get control of my emotions or my mind. It was racing at 1,000mph and I was going crazy. So, as I was reading my scriptures I came across this scripture:
Matt 5:4 Blessed are they that ^amourn: for they shall be comforted.
Immediately I felt peace and comfort surrounding me. I felt like someone had just gave me a huge hug and my heart was comforted and I felt like sleeping. I know that sounds weird, but I just felt very very at peace. More than I have in a long time. It was a comforting feeling and I know that it was the holy ghost helping me through. The scriptures are so powerful and I know that they are to help us, and that they were written for each of us. That's all :) just a random thought :) 

Moab!

This week we were able to go on a really fun trip to Moab with some of our neighbors! It was so much fun!! I have only been to Moab once before and it was to youth conference and I loved every single second of it! So I was stoked when they invited us to their "exclusive" trip ;) 

We left on Sunday and were only planning to stay till Tuesday because Karly wanted to be back for her birthday, but on Monday she said that we could stay longer. Problem- I hadn't been in any pain the whole time from my wisdom teeth until Sunday night. I was miserable. Especially because I was hot and didn't feel good. Not a good combination. I didn't even have my pills because I thought that I didn't need them anymore. All I had was my ibuprofen. It pretty much sucked. Also, I had a follow up appointment at the oral surgeon on Tuesday so we had to be back anyways. 

Sunday- we got there, set up and played a bunch of games. 

Monday- we went on a "river" hike that we actually went on for youth conference. It was good because it was at least 100 degrees so we were sweating like pigs! I love everyone in our ward so much! It was fun to get to know a lot of them more and have a good time while doing it!

Tuesday- we got up at 5:30 to hike Corona arch so it wouldn't be hot. That was also a blast! It was the perfect temperature the whole way and it was easy and beautiful! After that we headed home! It was quick, but that's not much different than what we've been doing all summer. Those quick trips! They are pretty fun! We've been quite a few places already. Bear lake this weekend! 

Oh! The wisdom teeth... Monday night I was in the most tooth pain I've been in! It felt like there was a little evil elf in my jaw with a jack hammer blowing up a balloon. That's the only way I can describe it. ;) 

Grandma's 76th Birthday Party

I know that we already knew this, but my moms family is psycho. Very. That's why we have the best parties. We have the best people ;)
My grandmas 76th birthday was last week and all she wanted was to roast a whole pig and have a luau. Only a Bezzant would make that request :)
Luckily my uncles raise pigs and so we had one readily available!
My mom spent all day cooking it in our backyard. It smelled like Tucano's. Awesome.
So we spent all day decorating and setting up. It kind of sucked for me because I actually go my wisdom teeth out on Tuesday and I still wasn't 100%. But I stuck thought it for a great party! Here are some of the pictures... :)

Happy Birthday Karly!

Woah. I'm going to be honest. It felt completely weird writing Karly instead of Karl...

From the time that I was little I always thought that she was an angel sent from heaven. Mainly because, I don't think I have ever really seen her do something wrong. That may sound totally sarcastic, but I really think she is the closest person to perfect that I've ever come in contact with. She is amazing in that way. We call her the "odd one out"; now that I'm writing that, it sounds super weird and mean, but I mean that as a sincere compliment. All of us are sort of insane. We fight with each other, beat each other up, say mean things to each other and are just imperfect hooligans. She is the complete opposite. She has never even hit me.... wait... I take that back. She did, once. It didn't even hurt me. Hahahaha she's just a little girl who is too sweet and kind to even lay a finger on someone. Even when she did "hit" me, I laughed and she said sorry a couple times.
Karly has a million and one friends. The problem- this is not an exaggeration. She is always with at least one other person. I think it's because people are really drawn to her. She has the cutest little light about her, and always has. She knows who she is, what she wants in life, and how to do it. I don't know about you, but that's at least 3 steps ahead of me! She stands up for her beliefs, even if it's not the popular thing to do, or if she has to leave her friends. Every single day she looks to please her Father in Heaven and do what she knows is right. She may not know it, but although I'm the older sister I look up to her in so many different ways. She loves to help other people and hardly ever thinks about herself.
I admire (mainly because I have a problem with this) that she isn't afraid to be herself. She loves what she loves and it doesn't matter if it isn't what everyone else is doing or if it's weird.
She has the prettiest singing voice I have ever heard. I will hear her practicing in her room and I can't help but grin from ear to ear. She is also the only person in our family who is musically talented. We sometimes wear her out wanting to hear songs.
She always knows what to say. Whether it's about the gospel, where we want to go eat, why some person is wearing what they are. Whatever. She has something to say. We love to laugh at her. Well, with her. She's so funny sometimes and she doesn't even know it.
Karl, I know we are mean to you, but that just means that we love you more. Trust me, you are our favorite. :)

..and I shall conquer death..

The title of this post really has so much meaning and is very fitting for what my weekend was like.

As you know my aunt and uncle passed away last week. It was hard on all of us, but especially their family. We ended up going to the funeral in Arizona.

We took off Wednesday night after the girls had young women's at around 10:00pm (I know, that's way past young women's, you know us). My mom was going back and forth trying to decided if she was going to go or not. My cousin was going through the temple on Friday morning; my mom is close to him and was invited, she really wanted to go. She finally decided that she was just going to stay. So me, along with my sisters headed for Arizona. We were in American Fork and got a call from my mom, she was crying and said to come back, and that she was coming. We headed back and got her stuff in the car and left! I have to say, I was pretty grateful, I wasn't too excited about driving for 6 hours straight in the middle of the night. Now that she was coming, we had 3 drivers, which was so much better! Besides that, it wouldn't have been the same without my mom there.

We got in Arizona at about 11am. We couldn't check into our hotel, so we went shopping because my mom had forgotten her swimming suit.

Finally we checked into our hotel, swam a little, then headed to the viewing.

The actual viewing started at 6 but since we were family we came an hour earlier so we could actually see the bodies because they didn't have an open casket for friends.

It was a very moving experience. My mom tells us at every funeral (I don't think that she knows she tells us this every time, but, she does) to look and see how much of a difference the body is without the spirit. It's just not the person. The spirit is what brings our body to life and gives us our "look." It is very true. My aunt didn't look like herself even a little bit. You could tell there was a lot of make-up on her, probably because it had been longer than a week since the accident, and because of the actual accident. My uncle, we actually couldn't even see him. They had a white blanket covering his face and things over his hands. That was the hardest for my family I think. You couldn't help imagining what was, or wasn't underneath. It was probably one of the saddest funerals I have ever been too. All of our family was in the room, just crying. Everyone was hugging and just balling. It was rough. I can't even imagine losing both of my parents or grandparents at the same time. Probably the biggest thing that got me was all of their grandchildren. You could just tell how much they adored their grandparents, and how much their grandparents adored them. A good portion of all the pictures they had up were Karen and Floyd with their grandchildren. We would watch the kids go up and look at their grandparents and just run crying to their parents, burring their heads. It broke my heart. There is nothing that you can say to make that better.

Some people would be mad or turn away from our Father in Heaven. Not us. If anything, it makes us stronger and our faith increases. Of course it's hard to see the big picture of why this would happen to such an amazing family, but we know that trials make us stronger and that everything has reason and purpose. We know that this was their time, and that they were supposed to go together. Sometimes, that knowledge makes to a little easier to get through the day.

As we were driving back to the hotel from the viewing, the song "I know that my Redeemer Lives" came on. As I sat listening to the song I've heard a hundred times a new feeling came over me. The words "and I shall conquer death" stood out to me more than ever. I SHALL conquer death. An immediate feeling of peace and comfort came over me. Not only had Karen and and Floyd conquered death, but my Aunt Laura, Uncle Arlin, Grandpa Calder, Grandpa Cliff, and my Dad have all conquered death. Conquer. It is only through our Redeemer and Brother Jesus Christ that we are able to conquer death and return to live with those who we love more than life itself. I can't even express how much that means to me.

We then had the funeral the next day. I love funerals. Of course not because I like it when people pass away, but I love learning about the lives of the sweet people who are now passed on. No one says anything bad, no one is mad at them, it's all just great things that the people have accomplished and all about the great people they were here, and are now in heaven. I learned so much about Floyd and Karen, it made me wish that I had gotten to know them better, but I know there is time for that later. :) As someone said in the funeral, they were welcomed with open arms and gigantic hugs in heaven and we sure can't wait to see them again :)

We actually drove by the site they were killed at on our way home. I'm not going to lie, I was a little scared of what I was going to see. We pulled over by the side of the road and just sat in silence. I could feel the spirit so strongly. This is where my aunt and uncle had left their bodies and passed on to the other side. We offered a prayer to our Father in Heaven thanking him for everything that he gives us and for the great lives that Karen and Floyd had lived and for the time we got to spend with them. We then continued to pray to protect us on our way home and to be with the Well's family at this trying time.

I am so grateful for prayer and the powerful influence it has on us.

We even had the opportunity to stop and do baptisms at the Mesa temple. It was really fun because all the workers were so nice and you can just feel the spirits of those you are being baptized and confirmed for. I'm grateful that I can help and serve those who cannot be with their families without help from us.

A little more weird stuff about the trip. It took us 11 hours to get to Arizona. 11 long miserable hours. We took our focus to save gas money. Holy cow. Squishy. All 5 of us. Good thing it was in the night or I think we would have killed each other because of the heat and being awake the whole time. We had some good laughs and I think all of us have a couple of bruises, but it was well worth it! We loved the trip!