no empty seats

to celebrate gordon's grandpa hardcastle's birthday last month, his grandma invited everyone that could to go to the temple. to me, there is no better place to remember a loved one than at the temple (especially while doing sealings, which we did in addition to an endowment session...it was a very busy evening for the hardcastle family).  we are reminded of eternities there and are promised great blessings if we live by the commandments we have been given.

previous to this day, gordon's grandma had expressed to us how much she loved her family.  she told gordon and me how much each one of us meant to her.  and how she wants nothing more than for each family member to join her someday in the temple.  she said she wants "no empty seats" in heaven.

the older i get the more i realize how important family is.  i, too, want no empty seats at my family table in heaven.

we have never forced our beliefs on our family members.  gordon and i just do what we do.  but our life is our religion.  it is our way of life.  we try our best live it each day.  and we hope that our family members see the happiness that it brings to us.  sometimes i worry that they only hear about the hardships we have regarding our callings.  how time consuming and stressful they are.  we have so many wonderful, spirit enhancing experiences too.  there's nothing more special than watching someone "come back" to the gospel.  watching inspiration take place when someone is called to serve in our ward that is not "active" yet they accepted the call to serve regardless.  knowing how hard it must be for them to live their life in a way that is new to them.  and knowing how hard opposing forces are working on them to give up.  having a little less space on our church bench has been the most wonderful feeling i have ever felt.  and many prayers are being said each day for these special souls.  because there are no empty seats at our family table.

^^every post needs a photo...so this is us getting dinner after going to the temple with gordon's family^^

social media...i love you.

i don't have facebook. i've never myspaced. but...

instagram. oh goll...this is my favorite app. i check it more frequently than i post to it. and i check it all. the. time. biggest time waster. but i love it.

and then enters vine. oh vine. you're like instagram, but in short 6 second real-time recordings with sound! you may just be a fad, but i like you.

do you vine?  come join me!


*i know vine has gotten some horrible reviews. about inappropriate images & porn. you only see those if you follow someone that posts those types of things or you search for it...so i've only seen a handful of times. KIDDING! i haven't had an issue. just lots of fun! i am waiting for them to make an update that includes some privacy control. hopefully that's coming soon...

girls only snowshoe session

2.2.13

wheeler creek - ogden canyon

jenny, my SIL, & tanna, my seester, first snowshoe adventure! beautiful day.

warm enough that i took my coat off halfway through cause I was sweating to death.

have i mentioned how much i looooove snowshoeing? cause i do. it's like the snow transforms my favorite hiking trails into places i've never been to before. like i'm exploring them for the first time. i love it!

sister time is a good time

2.1.12

dinner: el pollo rico

movie treat: peanut butter flavored and banana flavored popcorn from popcorn express

movies: seven psychopaths AND beasts of the southern wild

fun night filled with the best chicken sopes i've ever had, papas nachos that will stop your heart, the best popcorn flavors to mix, a couple of pretty good movies, and lots and lots and lots of laughter. my sister is the best!

2013 sundance film festival

my sister and i went to sundance again this year. we had a wonderful time (we have a great time together no matter what we do!).

we purchased our tickets in person (which was dumb...this year they had an online option and we chose to just buy our tickets in person. we missed out a couple of shows we wanted to see. next year we'll be smarter about it all - although we said that last year too).

we bought fancy boba tea drinks after our ticket purchase (any excuse we can find to purchase fancy drinks!).

we went to dinner at rovali's before our first film, emanuel and the truth about fishes. interesting story line. we liked it, although i love jessica biel-timberlake so i'm partial to any movie she's in (maybe it's because she has the teenage me's dream name...jessica timberlake). we even snuck in fancy hot chocolate to sip on during the movie (white lavender hot cocoa...divine!)

our second film landed on tanna's birthday! i snuck birthday treats for her (us) to enjoy while watching the way way back (which was a hilarious movie...with a good message at the end. it is also the first comedy i've cried in because i was touched by the message).

at the end of sundance we always regret not going to any of the screenings up in park city. this year was a deep regret because my longtime crush, joseph gordon levitt, was in town for the entire two weeks of the festival! he's a regular to the festival so i'm hoping i didn't miss out on my opportunity to meet him (since, you know, that could happen...).

sundance 2013, you were fun. and we're already looking forward to next year!
























we also experienced the first ice storm of my lifetime. it was wicked crazy. both of us are "fall victims" so neither of us were as confident as we could have been. perhaps the idea to crawl to our cars was mentioned more than once. and maybe, just maybe, we got applause when we actually made it to ours cars (& not from each other. sweet stranger?) this is not to be mistaken as a horrible event. like everything we do together, there was lots of laughter & smiling involved.

our neighbrhood has the best youth!

i've told you how amazing i think the youth in our area are when we went on trek.  this weekend we had another confirmation of just how amazing they truly are.

this is chad.

 

 

he spoke in our church's sacrament meeting this past sunday.  he also just left on his full time lds mission this week (he's serving in Honduras).  the things he said in his talk were simple, yet powerful (which, i think, describes our religion perfectly).  he spoke of simple truths.  how we can all change.  that the atonement of Jesus Christ allows us to be the person we want to be.  that the book of mormon is a true book and can help us change.  that we are all children of God.  that God loves us, no matter what.  and we have the power to talk to him whenever we want.  the spirit that chad brought into our church meeting was undeniable.  i would dare say that every single person in that chapel felt it.

 

i am so excited for chad.  i'm excited for the people of Honduras who get to have this remarkable, steadfast, 18 year old boy share a message with them that will bring them more joy and happiness than they have ever known before.  and he will do that.  he will help people change their lives.  i know he will.  he has already done it here, in little ol' ogden, utah.  and he will do it there. 

 

chad is a boy who grew up in our neighborhood.  i am so proud of that.  our kids are going to be so lucky to have people just like chad surrounding them.  they are going to be strong, too.  just like chad.

the snow days just keep getting better & better

side note: isn't my husband hot? oh baby, yes!