Vegas, Backflips, and General Conference

This weekend I had the opportunity to drive to Utah with my family and attend General Conference for the first time.

We stayed the night just outside of Las Vegas  Thursday so we could see one of my Moms cousins and her family, then drove the rest of the way the next morning.

We had such a great time!

Our first night there we went to this place called Airborne. (It is similar to Jumpstreet, but bigger and WAY better).

I learned how to do a backflip!

If you know how seriously uncoordinated I am, you will understand how impressive that really is.

Then on saturday my Dad, Brothers, and one of my Uncles, went to priesthood session, while  my Mom, Sister, youngest Brother, Grandma and I went Shopping and to dinner

 Then my mom and I went to the Sunday Morning session.

It was one of the coolest experiences of my life!

Being in the same room with the Prophet and Apostles was so fantastic!

The Spirit was so strong and I learned so much!

Here are some of my favorites:

So this one time, I lost my camera…

When I was a Sophmore, I really started getting into photography, so as an early birthday present, my parents got me a pretty nice camera.

I was SO excited! I used it ALL THE TIME (just ask my friends, I always had it with me).

Then one day, at the end of my Junior year, it came up missing.

I searched EVERYWHERE for it. My house/car, my friends houses/cars, my families houses/cars.

Seriously, anywhere I had ever been with that camera, I searched.

After a while I gave up looking.

It was gone, lost or stolen, I didn’t know, but it was gone.

I was devestated.

After a while, I started to forget about it, then, a few days ago, I got the single greatest Facebook message I have ever recieved in my entire life.

One of my friends had found my camera!!

It had been in her car this whole time!!! (I honestly have no idea how it survived the summers…)

I was so happy!!

The first chance I got, I went to her house and picked it up.

There were so many funny pictures of things we did that I had completely forgotten about!

I still smile every time I think about it! 🙂

Here are a few of the gems I found:

Life’s Happenings

Its has been a crazy few days! My cousin AJ, left on his mission to Columbia this morning.

He is such an amazing person and has always been such a great example to me!

He will be such a fantastic missionary!

Return With Honor Elder Shummway!

Also, Sister Lexy Wadsworth is leaving on her mission to Spokane Washington tomorow morning!

She is seriously one of the coolest most amazing people I know!

She will be such a fantastic missionary!

In honor of our last weekend with Lexy, we went on a bike ride saturday afternoon.

Lexy and I rode a tandem bike, and every one we passed thought it was so cool!

We had a blast!

To end the night we went to LoLo’s Chicken and Waffles.

It.Was.Heaven.

If you haven’t been, GO!

Its SO worth the drive to the sketchy part of Phoenix!

(And they have Kool-Aid on tap. Really, it doesn’t get much better than that.)

And finally, my mission papers done!! If all goes well, they should be submitted in about a week and I should have my call within about a month!

Seriously, I am so happy!!!!!

(This is the picture that will be submitted with my papers)

PA

I knew it was coming.

It was bound to happen.

One of my best friends ever got her mission call.

Sister Kaitlyn Crockett has been called to serve the Lord in the Pennsylvania Pittsburg Mission and reports April 24.

That is 5 weeks!!

I dont even know how to handel this.

This whole I cant serve until the end of July thing really isn’t working for me….

She is my running buddy, my temple going buddy, she is the person who hears “hey, i have this idea (ie, lets train for a marathon in the middle of the summer), are you in?” all the time and always says yes!

I’m going to miss her like crazy, but I know she is doing what she is supposed to.

She was born for this (seriously. I have heard her teach the discissions, she is so ready for this!)

Im so proud of you Sister Crockett! The people of Pittsburg are so lucky to have you!!

And you can check out her mission blog at :   http://sisterkrcrockett.blogspot.com

I Stand All Amazed

This pretty much sums up how I feel right now, and I’m kind of loving it. Christ loves ALL of us, no matter what, and that is an AMAZING thing.

I Stand All Amazed

I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me,
Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me.
I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,
That for me, a sinner, he suffered, he bled and died.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me
Enough to die for me!

Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine

To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine,
That he should extend his great love unto such as I,
Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me

Enough to die for me!
Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

I think of his hands pierced and bleeding to pay the debt!

Such mercy, such love and devotion can I forget?
No, no, I will praise and adore at the mercy seat,
Until at the glorified throne I kneel at his feet.

Oh, it is wonderful that he should care for me

Enough to die for me!
Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

 And on another semi-related note, my mission papers are almost done!! I should have them completed in about 2 weeks!

I.CAN’T.WAIT.

I Won!

10 months ago I made a bet with my mom.

She looked at me and said “I bet you can’t go without soda until Christmas” (It was june(ish) at the time).

I told her that for the right price, I could. She said $100 (Im not even going to lie, I was thinking WAY less than that, but hey, I wasnt going to argue!)

So I agreed.

It sucked but I did it. Then in October, she said, “I bet you cant go without ANY sweet drinks (Powerade, Gatorade, lemonade, juice, ect..) at all until March 1st”.

I said “Not for just $100 I cant”. So she said she would pay for my car insurance from March-July if I did.

SOLD!

So here I am, on March 1st. I Succeeded!  And this is my victory Dr. Pepper one of my best friends bought me ( she is the best!)

Happy Dr. Pepper day!

And So It Begins

Its Official.

My mission papers are STARTED!!!

I cant even begin to express how excited I am!

I can turn them in on March 22.

Its real.

Its happening.

And I am so happy about it!

A Funny Story

Before you read this post, there is something you have to know about Parker.

He is just one of those people where every Christmas, his are the presents that are broken, he is the one that accidentaly gets forgotten

{i.e. this Christmas we all got a card from our grandparents, and parkers was blank, iot was pretty hillarious actually!}.

It always happens to Parker. ALWAYS!

So, with that said here it is.

My twin brother Parker, got his Mission call last night to the Guatemala, Guatemala City South Mission!

He will report in June 12, and reports to the Guatemala MTC!

I am so excited for him! But actually getting his call in the mail was quite the adventure, so I’ll just start from the begining:

We were expecting parkers call Friday February 15.

Texts were sent, family was called, Facetime was set up. But, the mailman arrived without the long awaited big white envelope.

Dissapointed, we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would possibly have to wait another week.

But then something changed.

I was driving home from work at about 6:30pm, when I get a frantic call from Parker saying I needed to get home NOW!

I, obviously, was confused, and told him I was on my way and asked what the big deal was.

He told me he would explain when I got home. Now, even more confused, I got home and walked in to my entire family freaking out!

Right before Parker had called me, they had recived a call from some random guy in Kansas City, and this was their conversation {well, the summarized version..}

“Hi, I called your Bishop and got your phone number. So my son, Alex Evans, opened his mission call tonight. He is at BYU, so he wa skyping us. After he read it, he realized that the packet that came with it didnt match up, so when he looked closer he realized that the letter was actually adressed to you. Apparently the letters that actually say your calls got switched. I scanned your letter and sent it to your Bishop so you can still get it tonight.”

So our bishop printed it off without reading it, put it in a big white envelope, and brought it over for Parker to open.

So again, we had to send texts, call family, and set up Facetime.

It was great!

We are all SO proud of him for deciding to serve! He will be such a fantastic missionary!

{even though he will tower over everyone there…haha}

Oh, and Parkers real big white envelope came in the mail today with the other kids letter in it, so we caled them, got their address and are sening it to them.

The other kid is going to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil and reports July 10

{Just in case you were curious (; }

A Beautiful Day

I had the day off of work, and it was such a beautiful day, I just had to be outside.

So my little brother and I spent a little quality time together on a bike ride around our neighborhood.

We rode up and down the streets near our house, past the Temple, then stopped at Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone

(because what better way is there to counteract all of the excersize we had just gotten?!)

Of course, my brother dropped his cone about 15 seconds after we got it, but after a few tears were shed and I gave him mine, all was well.

It was alot of fun!

It was so funny to hear all of the things my brother had to say (or sing, in some cases)

I love my family so much, and I am so glad I get to spend time with them!

{Goal}

I have a goal.

I kind of stole it from a few of my friends, but its a good one, so I dont think they will mind. 🙂

 I want to attend the temple at least once a week until I leave for my mission.

That is at least 6 months.

As of right now, that shouldnt be too much of a problem, since I don’t start work until 3pm, but, with a scedule that can eaily be switched, I know it wont always be super simple.

So I am posting this so I can be held accountable.

Now I cant think “Oh, well, no one know, so it doesn’t matter if I skip this one week…”

Nope.

I am committed.

This will happen.