Look Up: My Talk in Sacrament Meeting

I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday. I was asked to speak on Elder Adrian Ochoa's talk called "Look Up". Here it is, folks! Well, the best I can do with what I said because I don't actually write my talks. I just read and study for them, make bullet points, and then let the Spirit guide wherever my talk wants to go.

ENJOY!

Elder Ochoa's started his talk off by telling a story of his cousins and he being sent on an errand for their grandmother. They stopped along the way to play marbles and got distracted. They were unaware of what was going on around them, and pretty soon, it was raining and thundering. They had forgotten to Look Up and be aware of what was happening around them. All of the kids had to take shelter at a home of a family kind enough to help them out. Little did the kids know that their family and community was searching frantically for them. In the morning, when they were reunited with their families, they found out how frantic everyone was and just how much of a problem they had caused. 

“My experience with my cousins taught me to pay attention to the signs of our times. We live in the stormy, perilous days that Paul described: “Men shall be lovers of their own selves, … disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, … false accusers, incontinent, … lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God” .

Speaking of these times, Elder Dallin H. Oaks said: “We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation. … And the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult—the spiritual” In other words, don’t neglect to look up.

In high school, I had a phenomenal seminary teacher. His name is Brother Abercrombie, and he is just about the funniest guy you will ever meet. I learned so much in his classes, and I will be forever grateful for the influence of his classes on my life.

About 2.5 years ago, I remember sitting in his class learning of Noah's Ark. Brother Abercrombie then told us the following story: It took Noah approximately 300 years to build the ark. In the first 200 or so years, 20% of the ark was constructed, but in the last 50 or so years, the final 80% was completed. The rapid speed at which the final 80% of the construction was completed was an indication at how quickly the flood was approaching. It was a sign of the times.

In modern day, our equivalent of the ark is temples. They, too, protect us from the storms all around us. In 1995, when President Hinckley was sustained as prophet, there were 46 temples in total, either announced, under construction, or in operation. Now, just 18 short years later, we have 141 temples operating, 13 under construction, and another 16 temples announced. 

This means that it took 118 years for the first 46 temples, and 18 years for the other 124 temples, totaling 170 temples today. That is 73% of all the temples have come in the past 18 years. Just as the ark, rapid temple construction is another sign of the times. The second coming is approaching, and the time to prepare is now.

I loved the message that President Uchtdorf shared with us that said, "the best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now".

Dean M. Davies-2nd Counselor in Presiding Bishopric said, “In the development of modern-day temples, careful attention is given to the design, engineering, and use of building materials. Thorough testing of the soils and geology takes place on the site where a temple will be built. Studies of wind, rain, and changes in the weather for the area are considered so that the completed temple can withstand not only storms and climate common to an area, but the temple is designed and positioned to withstand the unexpected earthquakes, typhoons, floods, and other natural calamities that may occur. In many temples, concrete or steel piles are driven deep into the earth to anchor the temple foundation."

According to 1 Corinthians 3:16, our bodies are also temples. We, too, must be sure that our lives are built upon a sure foundation.

The Nephite prophet Helaman gave unmistakable clarity to the importance of building our lives on a sure foundation, even the foundation of Jesus Christ: Helaman 5:12--- “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall”.

We will each have both literal storms in our life, as well as storms that come as trials or burdens to us. The storms will beat us, the winds will whip us, and the hail will hurt us. Satan wants to beat us down, so that we will give him the power to drag us to the gulf of misery and endless wo. There is no doubting that these times in our life will come, however, it is dependent upon our sure foundation whether we will triumph.

Now, shifting gears just a little bit.

As found in John 4, Jesus went to Jacob’s well, and inquired that a woman at the well give him water to drink. Christ proceeds to tell her, “Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

As Elder Bednar said, “The living water referred to in this episode is a representation of the Lord Jesus Christ and His gospel. And as water is necessary to sustain physical life, so the Savior and His doctrines, principles, and ordinances are essential for eternal life. You and I need His living water daily and in ample supply to sustain our ongoing spiritual growth and development.”

I believe the symbolism from this passage of scripture does not end here.

This particular well, built thousands of years ago, is not just any well. The labor and effort put into creating this well was nothing short of difficult.The well was hewn out of solid rock and reaches about 135 feet. I can not imagine digging a hole that large in solid rock. In fact, I can’t even make a small hole in a small rock.

This well was created so that people would be able to draw water from it in order to sustain their life. Now, because of the sacrifice, hardship, and endurance until the completion of this well, even thousands of years later, that well can still be visited and water can be retrieved.

We, too, have a well within us from which we draw the living water in order to sustain our spiritual life when times of trials, storms, and burdens find us.

Joseph B. Wirthlin said, “By living the gospel of Jesus Christ, we develop within ourselves a living spring that will quench eternally our thirst for happiness, peace, and everlasting life. The Lord explains clearly in the Doctrine and Covenants that only faithful obedience can tap the well of living water that refreshes and enlivens our souls: “But unto him that keepeth my commandments I will give the mysteries of my kingdom, and the same shall be in him a well of living water, springing up unto everlasting life.”

Also like Jacob’s well, our wells can be built out of sand or complete stone. Are we doing the necessary things in our life right now to ensure that our wells are hewn out of stone?

There have been many times in my life where I have needed to partake of this water from my well, and I am ever so grateful that I was doing the things in my life that I needed to in order to have the water readily available for me. It made all the difference. I gained the strength that I needed to endure. 

David A. Bednar said, “Holding fast to the rod of Iron will lead us to His living water.As His servant, I invoke this blessing upon you: that your desire and capacity to hold fast to the rod of iron will be enlarged, that your faith in the Savior will increase and replace your fears.”

Now, more than ever, we must be sure that our foundation is built upon Christ, and our wells are hewn from stone. We are surrounded with challenges, both big and small, all around us. It is a sign of the times. Yes, there are signs of storms forming all around us. Let us look up and prepare ourselves. There is safety in a strong testimony. Let us cherish and strengthen our testimonies every day.

I know without a doubt that we were all saved to come to earth at this time. It is no coincidence that you are in the situation you are in right now. May we do all that is necessary to prepare ourselves, “for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh”, but it is coming quickly.

Bear testimony.

Amen.

{Yes, those really are the last two bullet points of my talk.}

Free Yogurt, Free Frostbite

I have made a personal goal to write at least one blog post a week, and so far, so good! It's part of a project that I am doing for my Book of Mormon class.

My life is crazy busy right now with all my classes and midterms and everything. I feel like when one thing comes, it all comes. That goes for school, work, family, friends, relationships, church, etc. 

MY LIFE IS ON OVERLOAD RIGHT NOW. 

But, that's ok. I guess I would rather be busy than bored, right? 

I have a list that I keep on my phone of blog posts that I need to write, and each week, I choose at least one to write about. Trust me, I have a ton of drafts on here that I work on little by little, until one day, they will be finished and published for the world to see!

Back to the point!

Despite my hectic schedule, I always seems to find time to have little adventures. This week, I had an unexpected adventure that has become a part of me....possibly forever. 

So, on Monday, I finished up classes, and the plan was to head over to Kathy's house to see her and her broken leg (a blog post in the works, folks). Kathy texted me and reminded me that it was free frozen yogurt at Yogurtland. I figured that it was the free 3 ounces from BYU reaching over 80 points in their basketball game on Saturday.

I was so down for that. 

Well, I got there, and this is what I saw.

I have never seen a line so long! 

Could it possibly be just for the free 3 ounces they do after every game?? 

Turns out the answer to that is no. 

It was National Frozen Yogurt Day (as you can see in the sign), and we decided to join in this fun!

So, we did. We waited outside for an entire hour just in line.

For what, you might ask. FOR WHAT?

For a free 5 ounce cup of all the Frozen Yogurt you could possibly shove in there! 

Yes, people. I took that as a challenge. We all did! They handed us the little cups, and we wanted to see who could shove as much frozen yogurt in their cup as humanly possible.

Bryce Andelin, Karen Andelin, and I were all devising our own plans on who would be able to get the most in their cups. 

I figured that I had this challenge in the bag since I always played with the ice cream machines at Chuckarama and Golden Corral. 

Here are the end results:

In 3rd place, we have Bryce. 

In 2nd place, we have Karen. 

and in 1st place, me!

I am going to go ahead and claim first place because my ice cream was so high that it wouldn't fit underneath the dispensers anymore.

People. This adventure is not over yet. Actually, it is far from over. This is just the beginning. 

Because we had spent an hour outside, my hands were cold enough that I couldn't feel them very well. If you look close enough in this photo, the pointer finger on my left hand was directly on my ice cream! I couldn't feel it because I was so cold,

Right after this photo was taken, Karen, Bryce and I made our way out to the car. The walk to my car was full of me laughing, fist bumps from a group of boys proud of my success, jaws dropping, fingers pointing, and people staring. 

I mean, it's not like I was holding the world's largest pile of frozen yogurt or anything. 

Well, I got to my car and realized I had nowhere to put this, and it was going to melt by the time that we arrived at Karen and Kathy's. I handed it off to Karen and ran into another restaurant to ask for a few cups. The waiter happily gave me some and asked me what for. Then, he just wanted to carry on a conversation for a minute, but I finally escaped back out to my car. Karen and I spooned the top few layers into a cup and headed off to her house. 

By now, my pointer finger was starting to thaw out. Holy crap. It hurt so bad. Bryce and Karen were laughing at me because I was yelling out in pain hahahaha!

Now, yes, people. I ate all of that except for two big spoonfuls that I just couldn't finish. I can honestly say that it all tasted the same, and I didn't like it very much. The sense of achievement was way better than any of that crap tasted like. Frozen yogurt doesn't even sound appealing anymore (even if I did eat some of it Friday night). Thank heavens I had found my medicine or my lactose intolerance would have killed me with all that dairy!

Guys.

My finger was still killing me. I went to bed, and woke up with a blister!! It hurt worse than any burn I have ever had.

Here are pics from 9 different angles.

You can see it best in this photo. 

Literally. This hurt so bad. I couldn't move my finger, touch my finger, or even have it lower than my heart. Haha! All of this for free frozen yogurt that probably made me gain 5 pounds, too!

I woke up Wednesday and it was still blistered, but only hurt if I touched it.

Thursday, it got a little better as well.

Until finally, today, now it is just super tough. My skin is all rough and completely numb. I can't feel anything! My skin won't stretch at all, so it makes it difficult to bend, but I can do it. When I run my other fingers over it, it feels completely flat, like it has been squished! and it feels just like my scar on my knee does---numb because they cut my nerves. 

That part of my finger feels like a man hand. Hahaha all tough and not very soft! That's what it reminds me of.

But, seriously. Take a second and think about how dumb this all is.

Only this would happen to me.

Maybe my hair color really should be bright blonde.

My Mom

All my life, I've grown up reading the scriptures. I learned of all the stories of Nephi, Sam, Moroni, etc. I know the general stories of the scriptures pretty well, too. I also learned of a few women in the scriptures, but the men were the focus of the majority of the stories. 

I never thought anything of it. I mean, men hold the priesthood, which benefits my life IMMENSELY. In my mind, men were the ones who ran the church. They have the authority and responsibility to do so. That is how God intended it to be. I never really dwelt on the fact that women weren't mentioned very often. It didn't bother me at all.

I was missing the whole picture.

Little did I know just how important my role as a woman, and eventually a mother in Zion, is. What caught me even more off guard is the fact that it has been in the scriptures the entire time! I had just missed it.

Crazy how in the few times women are mentioned in the scriptures, each time is absolutely vital to portraying just how important our job in mortality is. I mean, seriously. The verses are packed with the importance of mothers and women. 

Flash back---It was the second week of school. I was doing my homework for Book of Mormon, which consisted of reading about six chapters in the scriptures, answering 30 questions, then reading about 7-10 pages out of a textbook full of quotes and stories regarding the chapters we read.

1 Nephi 5:2-8 was the first encounter I had that hit me like a wall. I literally felt like a light bulb had been turned on. My eyes were opened. 

It says:

 2 For she had supposed that we had perished in the wilderness; and she also had complained against my father, telling him that he was a visionary man; saying: Behold thou hast led us forth from the land of our inheritance, and my sons are no more, and we perish in the wilderness.

 3 And after this manner of language had my mother complained against my father.

 4 And it had come to pass that my father spake unto her, saying: I know that I am a visionary man; for if I had not seen the things of God in a vision I should not have known the goodness of God, but had tarried at Jerusalem, and had perished with my brethren.

 5 But behold, I have obtained a land of promise, in the which things I do rejoice; yea, and I know that the Lord will deliver my sons out of the hands of Laban, and bring them down again unto us in the wilderness.

 6 And after this manner of language did my father, Lehi, comfort my mother, Sariah, concerning us, while we journeyed in the wilderness up to the land of Jerusalem, to obtain the record of the Jews.

 7 And when we had returned to the tent of my father, behold their joy was full, and my mother was comforted.

 8 And she spake, saying: Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons.

 9 And it came to pass that they did rejoice exceedingly, and did offer sacrifice and burnt offerings unto the Lord; and they gave thanks unto the God of Israel.

Now, I had read those verses many, many times, but the importance behind these few verses didn't occur to me until I read an excerpt from the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies. It reads: 

"To establish Lehi and his family in a new land where they would inspire and instruct later generations to come unto Christ, God needed more than a father and a son (as successor) to possess a testimony tried in the fire of affliction. God also needed a matriarch, weathered by her own trials of faith and armed with her own unwavering witness, to stand steadfast with her prophet-husband. 

"When her sons failed to return, Sariah feared, giving evidence that her present faith, though admirably strong, was not yet strong enough to continue the difficult journey, let alone to establish a God-fearing family in a new land. The content of 1 Nephi 5 is therefore especially significant because it shows how crucial a mother's preparation is to the Lord. God desired not only that the family possess the brass plates for the journey, but also that both the mother and the father have unshakable faith before they continued...

"Sariah's reunion with her sons was additionally charged with the spiritual witness and stronger faith she received as a result of her trial. At that moment Sariah gained a deeper testimony than she had previously known. Notice the power and assurance in Sariah as she bore witness to her reunited family: "Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness; yea, and I also know of a surety that the Lord hath protected my sons, and delivered them out of the hands of Laban, and given them power whereby they could accomplish the thing which the Lord hath commanded them" (1 Nephi 5:8)...

"Appreciating Sariah's epiphany also gives greater meaning to her subsequent act of sacrifice. "And it came to pass they they did rejoice exceedingly, and did offer sacrifice and burnt offering unto the Lord; and they gave thanks unto the God of Israel" (1 Nephi 5:9). Notice that Nephi reported "they" offered the sacrifice. Since Nephi was writing in first person, he tells us that he was not included as the primary participant in the ordinance. The context suggests that Lehi and Sariah together performed this sacred act of worship. Once can feel the renewed personal commitment that Sariah reverently placed on the altar alongside the animal sacrifice. And--most important--there is no indication that Sariah ever murmured again."

Then, Elder Boyd K. Packer added another witness of the important role that women, such as Sariah, play:

"The tender hand of the sister gives a gentle touch of healing and encouragement which the hand of a man, however well intentioned, can never quite duplicate...However much priesthood power and authority the men may possess—however much wisdom and experience they may accumulate—the safety of the family, the integrity of the doctrine, the ordinances, the covenants, indeed the future of the Church, rests equally upon the women...No man receives the fulness of the priesthood without a woman at his side. For no man, the Prophet said, can obtain the fulness of the priesthood outside the temple of the Lord. And she is there beside him in that sacred place. She shares in all that he receives. The man and the woman individually receive the ordinances encompassed in the endowment. But the man cannot ascend to the highest ordinances—the sealing ordinances—without her at his side. No man achieves the supernal exalting status of worthy fatherhood except as a gift from his wife."

This really started to put in perspective for me just how important my job as a wife and a mother is. I always knew that I needed to be the best that I possibly could so that I will one day be able to fulfill my role as a mother and wife. I always tried to live by this guideline of sorts---when faced with a decision, trial, or temptation, I would ask myself what I would want my future spouse to do. How would I hope that he would decide, act, or respond? What do I want? Expect? Well, if I expect that of him, then it is only fair that it is expected of me to do the same. Why would my future spouse expect anything less?

Now, I really felt the pressure of my future duty! 

Crazy how much is put on my shoulders in the rearing of children and the furthering of the gospel on this earth. Pressure, much?

Now, fast forward to this past week. I was also in my Book of Mormon class. Once again, we talked about mothers, and once again, I had another light bulb moment. 

This time, the subject was the stripling warriors. More specifically, Alma 56:47-48: 

 47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

 48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

We discussed the deeper meaning of the second verse. The mothers all had a special gift to know when their sons were in need of an extra blessing. Through this, they were able to pray for their sons and protect them. 

Then, our teacher told us a story that related it to our day and age to help that make sense. I can't remember exactly what the story was, but this is the gist of it. There was a man in combat, and they were under fire from the enemy. The enemy had backed this man and the others he was serving with into a hole. All the other holes had been blown out, so the enemy knew exactly where to hit next to hit the men serving our country. All the men in the hole were obviously expecting to be blown up by the enemy, since that is what happens. However, the firing stopped, the enemy left, and all the men in hiding there were alright. No one knew why they were preserved, but they were. It was a mystery to them.

 Years later, the man was with his parents when his father had brought up that a few years earlier, one night, he and his wife were getting into bed when the wife sat up abruptly and said that she felt like she needed to pray for her son's safety. She prayed for him, got into bed, went to sleep, and didn't learn the outcome of the prayer until years later. The connection was made that the exact time this mother knelt down was also the same time the enemy was suppose to kill her son, but had left them alone. 

The special power that mothers have in their children's lives and knowing when their children need an extra blessing blows my mind. It is so comforting, yet can come no other way but from the help of a Heavenly Father. {Yet, another witness that we have a Heavenly Father who loves each and every one of us, AND knows us individually}

I had never thought of the verse, or the story of the stripling warriors, in that context.

I think the timing of this Book of Mormon lesson in my life was no accident. I don't find it ironic at all that I got this lesson about mother's and their instincts at the same time that I was having two of the hardest, longest, most emotional weeks of my life. I had things going on that I didn't tell anyone about because I felt it was something that I needed to deal with on my own. A lesson I needed to learn, answers I needed to find. No one else could do that for me. 

It was something I needed to do.

When the beginning of these difficult two weeks began, my mom did not know what was going on. I wasn't going to tell her. But there in class, it started to make sense to me. 

It was nothing short of a miracle that when those two weeks initially began and my struggle started, my mom texted me at the exact moment I needed the extra blessings. She asked me what was wrong. I did not tell her anything was wrong, nor had I hinted that something was wrong. In fact, I hadn't even talked to my mom since earlier that day. It was a random text asking me what was wrong. Once again thinking I needed to do this on my own, I reassured her that I was alright. Everything was okay.

Same thing the next day, and the next, until I finally told her that I wasn't okay.  

For some reason, I didn't even have to tell her what was going on for her to know. She had already known. Not only had she already known, but she had already been praying for me and as a result, I was showered with the extra blessings that I needed to get through the next few weeks of my life. 

This pattern of my mom's extra blessings is not unique to this one situation in my life. In fact, I know this has happened more often that I even realize. This has happened so many times in my life! I mean, she didn't even know that I was going skiing the other day, yet on Facebook, this is the post on my wall, "So, Alice, Saturday, I spent a lot of time on my knees praying for you when I heard you had planned to go ice skating with Karen & Kathy.... but at the end of the day when I heard you went skiing...oh wow... I felt grateful that my pleading for your safety was answered on both of your adventures.  Glad you had fun - you always do - but more grateful you are alright! The pictures on your blog look painful! ~Mom"

Even last year, I was in the middle of making one of the biggest decisions of my life. I didn't know how to tell anyone what was going on, nor did I feel like anyone else could help me with the decision. It was something I needed to do. It was my mom who sat me down and said, "Alice, I feel like you are trying to make a big decision in your life" then she reassured me that she and my dad loved me and would support the decision I would make. 

I do not think that my mom even knows how vital the timing of that conversation was. It literally saved me from making the wrong decision that would have taken me down the wrong path. In fact, if she would not have said that, I probably would not be here at BYU right now---which means everything that I have learned and gained from this experience would never have happened. No Karen, Kathy, Aspen Grove. No nothing. I can't imagine my life without it.

As I sat in class and pondered this, I realized how much I had taken for granted. It had never occurred to me just how amazing my mom is. I truly don't appreciate my mom as much as I should. I am so incredibly lucky to have a mother that is worthy to be in tune with the spirit enough to know when I need the extra blessings in my life, or even to know that something is wrong with me. 

Everything she does for me is because she loves me. I know that now. I think I always thought that, but now I know it, and I am so incredibly thankful for it. I don't think I will ever be able to comprehend in this life everything that my mom does for me, both in plain sight and behind the scenes, yet I will continue to be blessed by it. 

I pray that one day, I will be to my children what my mom is to me.

I love you, Mom. 

I know I don't say it enough, but know that I always will love you. 

Adventurous For A Day

Yesterday was a very eventful day for me, people. 

I got to do two things that I have wanted to do my entire life!

What are those two things?

Well, I went XC Skiing and Ice Skating! But, my entire day was just so exciting and random that I thought I would start from the beginning!

First, I woke up at 6:45 and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided I would continue working on my homework. I did that until 9:30, then Emily and I worked out. {I had slept over at Emily & Joe's}

We did a work out called Ballet Beautiful, and it was pretty intense! I felt my muscles quiver! Haha that is my FAVORITE. I immediately felt it in my abs! Even putting pressure on the pedal as I drove made my abs quiver. HECK YES.

Then, people. It was my Aspen Grove Summer Staff Reunion. Can you say stoked?? I was sooooo stoked to be reunited with my AG Family!! 

For the car ride to AG, I had Karen, Kathy, Amy Tingey, and Tori Pence. To say that we were all giddy and squealing with joy almost the whole ride there would be an understatement. 

The squealing only got worse when we all walked into the dining hall, and everyone saw each other. Hahahaha all the girls were screaming, and every time a newly married couple or newly engaged couple walked in, the squealing escalated for a minute, then died down to the normal range. Hehe :)

Here are all of us that were able to make it!

We ate lunch and then we each got to go snowshoeing and cross country skiing. Karen and Kathy had both been cross country skiing at Aspen Grove, and I hadn't. I figured that it wouldn't be too hard. I mean, I've tried lots of new stuff before, and I usually do pretty well at new things! I had heard all of my friends back in Idaho talk about skiing and snowboarding, and I had never tried either of them. 

So, we opted to go cross country skiing! We went into the store and picked out our shoes, skiis, and walking stick things. Hahaha I don't even know what they are called!! I grabbed my camera so that we could document this momentous part of my life. Here we go!

Here we are just before we put on our skiis! I was so excited!

And here we have them on! I was ready to go! Or, I thought I was ready to go.... little did I know what I was getting myself into!

We got to the start of the trail, and Brian Longhurst told us to go this other way instead of the way everyone else was going. Okay, I didn't know that this trail was the super advanced one! It started off with a hill! A big hill. I didn't even know how to go across flat land. How was I suppose to go up a hill?? Hahaha no one explained to me how to even maneuver anything around. I was so clueless!

Anyways, I got about three-quarters up the icy hill before I finally biffed it for the first time. I started sliding backwards, lost my balance, and biffed it. Then, I couldn't get up. I contemplated for a moment that I may need life-alert! Hahahaha :)

I finally got up, made it a few more feet up the hill before I started slipping again. I reached down this time to catch myself before I fell all the way down the hill, but I accidentally grabbed my skiis, which of course, gave me no grip. I fell hard. On my chin and then ribs. Yeah, not a good idea. That hurt, and I definitely feel that on my ribs today!

I fell another time before making it all the way to the top of the hill! I thought I was getting the hang of it, but we were on flat ground again, and I was in a trail. Hahahaha! We made it to our cabins, and of course, all of us had to take pictures with them! 

Here is Karen at the Kitty Cabin!

And cute Kathy!

Amy Tingey and Melissa Longhurst

Then, it was my turn with my cabin! I got there, attempted to turn around, and biffed it. This photo was taken the moment I realized I was going down. Thanks for catching this, Kathy.

I finally got up and managed to get some photos with Cabin 27---my cabin!

Then, it was Kathy's turn! Cabin 26!

But then, coming down, Kathy had to take on a pretty steep little jump. "Kathy, take this like a champ!" said Karen. Obviously, she did.

And Karen thought it was pretty funny!

So, what is missing here is my attempt to take on the hill called Indiana Jones. I didn't know that was the name of it until I was finished and the other Aspen Grovers asked where we went. When I said that we went the hard way, they all asked, "You mean, you went on Indiana Jones?!?!" Yes, people. I did.

However, before attempting this hill, I handed my camera to Karen. I had fallen so many times that I knew my camera was safer in her hands. She went down first and took it like a champ. Then, it was my turn. I didn't even know what to do! So, I went for it! I got about halfway down before I biffed it and my bum so hard. Holy, I thought it was broken. Nope, just hit really hard. I also feel that today. It hurts, people. It hurts. 

The sad part about this is that Karen had recorded it on my camera! We got it on tape! But, somehow it disappeared. I think it was accidentally deleted, but that might be a good thing. It saves me a lot of embarrassment. 

The best part about the whole thing was Karen then coached me on how to go down hills---like I couldn't have known that before I went down this monster?? Hahahaha! 

Karen did manage to snap these photos right as I had gotten up. You can tell by the hair that it was quite the tumble.

Then, Kathy managed to beast it down the hill like Karen. 

The fall tallies thus far:

Karen = 0

Kathy = 1

Alice = 6

Then, Karen said something to make me laugh and decide to take a hike really quick while I gathered my courage to take the next series of hills.

Now, for another grand part. Karen finally biffed it. It was so hilarious! Hahahahaha....

So, these next two photos are some very important photos. They were almost the last two photos of me ever alive. This was the top of a series of hills. I had no idea how to steer around bends, or even how to stop.

So, when I came around the corner and there was the Alumni Cabin, I had no other choice. I couldn't turn and I couldn't stop, so the cabin stopped me. 

I have no idea how I possible landed the way that I did---one ski underneath me and one completely through the deck. What the?!?

I think I saw my life flash before me.

I managed to get up, and I didn't want to fall again, so I decided to sit back on my skiis and use them as a sled. I made it to the bottom! Yay! My hands were frozen, my bum was wet, and my muscles ached! But it was worth it!

I defrosted my hands in the sink as soon as I got my shoes off. That was excruciating, but We got my hands back to normal! Except that the tips are very sensitive even today!

But, folks, my day wasn't over yet! I still had ice skating to do!

Literally, when I was younger, I thought I was a figure skater. We even have family videos where I would pretend to be ice skating on the carpet. I was especially good at skating backwards and triple toe loops. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself! All the talent shows that I participated in were me doing my ice skating.

I was really nervous about the ice skating because I didn't want to fall and get hurt. We got there and the place was packed full of people. I felt like there were hundreds of kids skating, and everyone was constantly cutting me off. It was so nerve-wracking! But, I made it an entire hour of skating without falling! What an accomplishment!

In fact, I almost made it the entire night without falling! Then, a little girl cut me off. I tried to swerve to miss her, which I would have done, but then she decided to cut me off a second time and stop completely. I tried my best to maneuver around her, which I did, by spreading my legs just far enough to go over the top of her. I completely lost my balance, twisted my knee, and fell. The impact wasn't too bad, but the twisting of my leg was a little too familiar of a feeling. It hurt really bad, and I just prayed nothing was torn.

That's when my ice skating time ended. I was done risking an injury for it. Haha I want to go back when there aren't as many people there! But it was still so much fun! I am glad I went and did it!

I was super adventurous for one day, and I have decided that I need to be more adventurous more often. 

Here's to the rest of my adventures this year! :)