new state, new blog

Time to start a new blog!

As much as I have enjoyed my random fortunes

from some random Asian readers,

I'm going to try the private blog thing this time.

You know the drill.

Email me or leave a comment with your email

so you can keep reading my oh-so-very-exciting blog.

POST EDIT 7/22:
The first round of invites have gone out, 
if you haven't gotten one it's because I don't know you want one!
email me or leave a comment for an invite, thanks!

The Young Married Couples

Before we left VA all the young married couples in our ward got together for lunch at the park to say goodbye. I love these people. I would have never survived without them. They didn't have kids yet, but they were awesome with Kaci. She'd ask to hang out with John and Laura or Billy and Laura or go to Emmy and Shaun's house all the time. I wonder if I'll ever meet such awesome couples again. I miss them all already. It's bizarre to go to church and not see them. Church is never going to be the same without them. I'm looking forward to seeing them again when Brad graduates next summer. I may not have had a ton of friends in VA, but the ones I had were pretty amazing.

People Pictures

Some people I will never forget, but I wish I had pictures of them. You know, people that change you forever because of who they are and what they make you wish you could be. I don't have pictures of some of those people, like Nanako from BYU-H or Mr. Trew my 5th grade teacher. I made sure not to make that mistake when I left VA.

This is Bonnie Leavitt. She's amazing. I absolutely adore her. She's the Gospel Doctrine teacher for H'burg 2nd ward. She opens the gospel up and helps you live it, helps you see how you are the same and different from people in the scriptures, helps you "enlarge your memory" and heighten your awareness of how Christian you really are. I miss her terribly and I think I always will. She doesn't teach you the gospel, she teaches you to see how you can and do live it each day. She teaches you so you do more than learn, you do! She also knows gospel doctrine flawlessly. She's a convert who dedicated her life to studying the gospel. She can quote a prophet (ancient or modern) in casual conversation. Her comments in Relief Society were often direct quotes from the scriptures or conference. She can even tell you what side of the page to look on or which column a verse is in while you look something up. She knows her stuff, and she lives it. She's also incredible interesting. I invited her to lunch once just to be able to talk to her because you never get to really talk to someone at church. Like I said, she's amazing and I'm glad I have a picture of her.

Diane Hebdon. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have Christ walk into the room and sit next to you? I have. And that is why I got to meet Diane Hebdon. She radiates the love you read about in the scriptures. The love the apostles witnessed Christ demonstrate. When she walks in the room you feel different because she is there. When she smiles at you it is sincere. When she talks to you, you feel loved and heard. It's not something special she does for you, she does it for everyone. Everyone feels loved by her because she honestly loves everyone. She has mastered the art of seeing people and treating people like the Savior would. I'm sure she's not perfect, but she's perfecting the pure love of Christ the best of anyone I've ever met.

These two women have changed me in a very real way. I'm so grateful I got real life, tangible people to help me become a better Christian. The scriptures are a real and powerful tool, and these two women helped me see that using the scriptures as a tool to become like Christ does work, it is possible to be more like Him. Living proof is always encouraging.

Utah Trip

It's always crazy fun to be with ALL of Brad's family. The kids are starting to take over. Soon enough they'll outnumber us and we will be in BIG trouble. A few key ingredients to CALL FAMILY fun: 1)Always homemade food, taco soup and sandwhiches are standards. 2)Completely organized chaos, with that many people (15) it doesn't really matter how well you plan, it gets crazy. 3)Exteme exhaustion from excessive fun. 4)Use the camera as a torturing device because you don't know for sure when we'll all get together again (which this was like one of two times I've spent time with my brother-in-law/doctor, so it's understandable, though I don't think he's in any of my pictures... shucks).

A few pictures of the greatness planned and executed by Bryan and Lynda:
Canoeing at the lake by the cabin we stayed at up in Oakley. Crazy windy that day, but that didn't stop us.
Fireworks and water balloons in the backyard on the 4th of July. Why are those snacks so fun to watch? The kids loved them. They also got to do sparklers and a couple of those fountains. FUN!
ALL the grand kids in one place at the same time. Impressive!
Pre-picture picture chaos. Notice their matchy lake outfits complete with water shoes.

Oakley Rodeo. It was fun to go to a small town Rodeo, so different from one's I'd been to in AZ. They had fireworks at the end and Kaci still talks about the horses that ran so fast and the bucking bulls!

Wedding Memories part3

Okay, my sister got married and had a beautiful wedding reception and I have ZERO pictures of it. I was busy in the kitchen during her reception and my camera got left in a car after the temple. So someday I'll get my hands on some of her wedding pictures to post, but at least I took a few pictures of her in her wedding stuff before her wedding.


Post-wedding "fun" was a trip to Sedona. It was Brad's first time. We went to Slide Rock. It was a beautiful sunny day with a 20% chance of rain. We get to slide rock and while we're walking in people are running out. We forge on only to hear thunder, see lightning, and watch dark clouds roll in. The place cleared out in minutes. We were left all alone, huddled under a rock outcropping. The rain was cold and it lasted longer than the usual 10 minutes. Everyone was soaked. The kids made a little fort out of towels and put on their happy faces while the adults laughed. We all got wet, just not the way we intended.
After the storm mostly cleared everyone decided to slide on the rocks anyway and had a great time.

Wedding Memories part2

Family Time! Kaci now fully comprehends that she has cousins. She got along great with my sister's kids and she misses them desperately now. I also got to see my cousins. My cousin Misty is pregnant with a little girl, and I got to PHX just in time for her shower. She is adorable pregnant... skinny people always are!

We went to the circus for a little pre-wedding fun. Kaci loved all the tricks she saw people doing. My dad got all the kids these super fun hats. Hats are essential to fun in Hebner Family tradition.

Wedding Memories part1

Kaci and I got to spend TONS of time with Krystal and Bruce (whether they liked it or not). We were lovin' it. I always had the inside scoop on the latest wedding news.

Wedding Pictures at the Temple (the Monday before)

The big picture day was memorable. My two favorite memories from that day were:

1. Kaci got to get her nails done at a Salon with the Bride-to-Be. We had lined up a babysitter, but the babysitter's kid got strep the night before. So, our only choice was to take Kaci with us to the Salon. Kaci was in heaven. She has been obsessed with painting her nails recently. I forgot my camera (major bummer) but I'm sure you can all imagine a little girl beaming with joy with her hands and toes carefully placed so she won't smudge them. She even got the toe separator thing. She got her nails painted purple which was an excellent choice because Krystal's wedding colors were orange, yellow, and green.

2. While Krystal was getting ready, Bruce stopped by to pick up his suit. When he asked Kaci where Krystal was, Kaci said "Krystal's getting her hair cut... and it looks crazy!" Krystal was mid curls, twists, tucks, and pony tails and that is what Kaci calls crazy. Thankfully Krystal laughed, but warned "Kaci! If you weren't two, I'd be mad at you!" Pretty funny, by far the funniest thing Kaci did the whole trip! Krystal looked stunning for her pictures despite her "crazy" hair.