Kennedy Center Fun & Prayer

Photo above: Alan, moi, Jen Anderson at the arts festival. The 'carpet' behind us is made out of rice.
I went with a few friends to the Kennedy Center Arts Festival Open House on Saturday. They had different groups outside and inside. Some were magicians, bands, dancers, comedians, etc. They even had a flea circus said to be 'the smallest show on earth.' :) We walked around for awhile to see what was going on. It was nice day. On the way we saw a triathlon going on. People were swimming in the Potomac (gross) and we saw all the bikes lined up. It was cool.

This is the favorite group we saw. The whole program at the Kennedy Center was really targeted to small children so some of it, though amusing, was a little too young for us. This group did different forms of break dancing and hip hop. It was a lot of fun to watch!
They created a maze out of boxes for kids and their parents to play in. You could create your own building with the boxes too. I thought it was such a brilliant idea! What kid wouldn't want to go play in something like this? I even wanted to join in. :) This is what parents should do for birthday parties instead of spending so much money on those blow up toys or taking them to expensive places.

It was stake conference today. I really don't like stake conference. I think there are a lot of reasons why, but I'm not going to go into them. JD Evans is our stake patriarch and he gave a really good talk (the only one that I really paid attention to and enjoyed). He talked about prayer. He said that when he was asked to give the talk he prayed about it, perused the scriptures, went to the temple, etc., but nothing came to him. So he created his talk around answers to prayers. Here are a few points I thought were worth mentioning. He said that sometimes this is why we may not be getting an answer. (Please note that this is just a glimpse of what he said. He had stories and scriptural references to back them up.)

1) Faith--we need to be tested. Our character needs to be developed.
2) Patience--He gave the example of the people in Mosiah who had faith, but they still had their trials--they were not taken away.
3) Experience--He talked about Joseph Smith and gave scripture references to him gaining experience that would do him good.
4) Learn Initiative--Gave example of Oliver Cowdry trying to translate the plates and just expecting to be able to do it. Brother Evans told of when he was trying to decide if he should marry his now wife (of over 40 years). He said that he prayed and prayed about it, but did not get an answer. He said one day he changed his prayer and said that he wanted to marry her and gve his reasons why. Then he said if it wasn't right to please stop him. He went ahead and asked her to marry him and during his engagement he received his answer that it was good. He had to take the inititive first.
5) It doesn't matter to the Lord. This one surprised me, but he gave several scriptural references where the Lord said that it did not matter (i.e., whether they took a boat or went by land). We have to use our own judgement. He talked about a blessing he gave to his son once and part of the blessing said that 'he needed to move his feet.' In other words he needed to take action--he needed to walk to the end of the light and a few feet into the darkness before his prayer was answered.
So ultimately he said there are five things to do.
1) Pray over concerns whatever they are.
2) Study things out in your mide first.
3) Recognize that Heavenly Father may want you to decide.
4) Move your feet according to righteous principles.
5) Keep praying and doing your best even when you don't get answers. It may not be according to Gods time table.
I thought it was a great talk and it gave me a lot to think about.

Snakes EEEEKKKK!

I was sitting on my couch tonight talking to a friend on the phone. I looked over and noticed this small white box thing, that the people who come spray for bugs put around the corners in my family room, sitting about a yard away from where it goes. (The box is to caught bugs and spiders.) I went over to it and found a small snake caught in it. GROSSSSSS!!!! Ahhhh!!!!! Seriously I still have the heebies from it! I was going to ask my neighbor to come over and get rid of it, but I wanted to try and be strong and do it myself. I was also tired and figured it would take awhile to explain and then talk to him for awhile and I just wanted down time alone. I figured the snake was totally caught in the sticky stuff and dead so I should just deal with it. I got the trash can and put it next to the box and a broom. I push it into the garbage can with the broom and the snake moved. Ahhh, Eeee, shutter!!! I took the garbage can outside and took the liner out while I was putting the trash out. I just didn't want to have to carry the liner from the house without a barrier. (I am such a girl! I was totally creeping out while I took the trash can outside.) The snake was still moving when I got outside. Ahhh! It's totally outside and across the street, but now whenever I put my feet on the ground in the house I worry that there are other snakes lurking in my house and I'll step on one. I totally have the heebies. Yuck!!!

Bethany Beach Fun!

Above picture left: Alison Decker, Melinda Semadeni, Moi, Tiffanie Williams, Sarah Carpenter (in green), Christal Jackson (in black), and Melissa Hill

I cannot remember when I have had such a great time at the beach in the states. (When I have gone abroad, but this is different.) There were ten girls (including me) that went up to Bethany Beach in Delaware. I went up Friday morning at 4:00 am. It was wonderful! There was no traffic and it was so relaxing. The state park I usually go to wasn't open so I hung out at walmart until it was late enough to go. It was warm outside, but the wind was really strong and cold. I huddled under my towel and stayed until I could check into our house. Kristina had found us a house near the beach--3.5 blocks away. I was in charge of finding the house and searched for probably more than 12 hours so it was a relief when she found what we were looking for. It was a very 'campy' house, but it really worked out great! I had my own room with a balcony so when I got up early I would go outside and drink my hot chocolate while I read my book. I also brought my bike so I could bike to the beach quickly. It made bathroom breaks much quicker. :)
James Bond was at our beach pictured above. :) (he, he!) His physique was totally like the newest James Bond. He was quite fun to watch and was there several days that we were there. This picture is not very good, but it totally makes me laugh (and feel like a teenager with a crush) so I decided to post it. :) We all totally watched him. Yum! Nice pecks, nice abs, and wow killer arms. :)
There were several harlequin novels in the house we rented and of course all of us were interested. Tiffanie started to read one and was laughing and wanted to read a part to us. I suggested that she read out loud. Everyone welcomed the distraction. So, we had story harlequin hour. Everyone would gather around and Tiffanie read the story. It was hilarious as everyone would add their comments etc. I got a little bored with the story and went off to do my own thing, but everyone wanted to know what Rico would do next. So funny!

We had great weather on Saturday and Sunday. Monday it was a little chilly because the wind was strong. We still went to the beach for awhile. I took several walks and saw the sun rise one morning. The sky was orange and filtered into other colors--blues, pinks, and purples. It was spectacular. We played a few games and talked and laughed. We mostly hung out at the beach.

The beach is definitely my happy place. I left on Tuesday to come back. I went by myself which was so nice because I didn't feel like I needed to hurry or that I was wasting someone's time. What's funny is one night we were playing a game and one of the questions had something to do with lingerie. I told everyone that I personally loved lingerie and wore it all the time when I was home alone. I told them I clean in it and just wear it around my house. I figure if I were married I would be 'allowed' to wear it so why not now. Everyone thought that was a great idea and even want to have a lingerie party. I'm not sure what I started. :)

I wish I was still at the beach (though it was going to get rain all week.) It was so relaxing and fun being there. Some day I will live by the beach! As per food, I did really well. I ate within my points the whole weekend. I went over on Monday and Tuesday, but I figure that will by my 35 extra points for the week and now I just have my points for each day. I need to exercise a lot so I can earn a few extra. My goal for the rest of the week is to stick to my points and write everything down.