Seeds

First of all: Happy Fathers Day to all the dads!

I was thinking today about why I’m grateful to my dad. I think that  I’m just realizing how many seeds he planted in me that have grown to make my life more beautiful. Because of him, I love hiking in beautiful places, doing crossword puzzles, and playing complicated board games for hours on end. He persisted in teaching me to drive (even after me almost hitting a mailbox without hitting the gas pedal at all), got more excited about my science fair projects than I did, and is mostly responsible for my highly competitive streak.

More importantly, though, my dad taught me to love people and to love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He has always been an example to me of scripture study and good works.

This week, I also saw the seeds my parents have planted sprouting like crazy in my brother, Erik. He came to Provo this week to enter the MTC (LDS missionary training center). It was really great to spend a day with him and talk to him some. We went to all the Provo hot spots: Tucanos, J-dawgs, BYU campus.  I could tell he was a little nervous, telling me all sorts of things he had heard about the MTC (apparently, there’s something weird about the orange juice?). I could tell, though, that he was prepared and excited to serve the Lord.

It’s kind of weird to know he’s living a couple blocks away but have it seem more like hundreds of miles. At least I know if I make treats, I can have them to him same day delivery

Yesterday, our Relief Society had an activity centered on the Law of the Harvest. This topic took me back to the unit in Marriage Prep where we were graded on how well we could grow a plant of our own. The project was supposed teach us that in order for our marriage to bloom (sorry for the dumb pun), we needed to put in the appropriate work daily.  My plant sprouted once, but then it died. I think I went through about 10 seeds to no avail. So far, I think marriage is way easier than growing a plant in the middle of a Provo winter.

We’re hoping that growing plants is easier during the summer. At the Relief Society activity, they gave us each a pot full of dirt and a few starter plants. I ended up with 2 peppers, a tomato, and a squash. Since 4 plants do not fit in one pot, Stephen and I ended up buying several more pots, some potting soil and some basil and rosemary seeds (always having fresh herbs is one of my dreams in life). Never mind that we’re going out of town next week or that we’re moving to Texas in two months. I’m quite excited about our makeshift garden. Stephen keeps catching me peeking at it out the window just to see how things are going.

Sanctuary

Stephen: We delayed our first anniversary celebration to last weekend so we could stay at a Bed and Breakfast by Zion Canyon. I don’t regret that choice. The room was very nice (completely adorable, he means) and the breakfast was delicious (and beautiful) – there was even a jacuzzi tub to relax in after a strenuous day of hiking. The beauty of the canyon made the trip perfect. We covered quite a bit of ground: Angel’s Landing, Hidden Canyon, the river walk, Weeping Rock, Emerald Pools, and even a long hike in the Kolob Canyons section of the park.

Alisha: Our favorite hike was definitely Angels Landing. It began with a turkey sighting. Poor guy – he was all puffed up trying to catch the attention of a nearby female and she completely ignored him, didn’t even acknowledge his existence. We were expecting the hike to be rigorous so, in the end it wasn’t that bad. We were pretty surprised when we got to the top and we were already there.  The views were amazingly fantastic – the pictures don’t even begin to catch the majesty of it all. We didn’t even die or anything although the chipmunks did try to rid us of our food supplies. It started to rain while we were at the top. That made me a little freaked out; a five foot wide trail of slippery, wet sandstone and cliffs on either side is no joke.

Stephen: After hiking and attempting some artsy photos, only one or two of which turned out decently, we tried to find a picnic area to eat at. For a little bit we were scared we’d have to set up in the backyard of the bed and breakfast. Fortunately, we found a picnic table and enjoyed our camp food: sloppy joes, carrots, and ginger beer. The whole time we watched dark clouds mass on the horizon and prayed it didn’t rain on us again. Luckily, it didn’t. It felt a little funny, eating camp food then going and sleeping in a super soft pink bed, but I’ll admit I didn’t mind it all that much.

Wildlife sightings: 3 turkeys, 2 deer, millions of chipmunks and squirrels, lots of lizards and a clan of mating water bugs

Our First Year: Fall

My parents came up for some reason - I don't remember why. We went to a football game. BYU lost but it was still fun.

I don't think I'd ever carved a pumpkin this elaborate: a Welsh dragon. We decided afterwards that it was in honor of Stephen's Welsh heritage. There's also the Chinese character for dragon carved into the other side of the pumpkin.

Thanksgiving in California. I would have liked to post a picture that involved other people and us doing something cool. Apparently Stephen and I were too involved doing cool things to take pictures while doing them.

 Mary's birthday! Glad we could be there to celebrate!

 Our apartment decorated for Christmas. We were quite excited :)

Merry Christmas! Sporting really cute pajamas courtesy of Peggy.



Happy Mothers Day (Alisha's bit)

I ran into some old conference notes the other day and noticed some stars calling attention to a message from April 2010:

"Please look to your faithful mothers for a pattern to follow. Model yourselves after them, not after celebrities whose standards are not the Lord’s standards and whose values may not reflect an eternal perspective. Look to your mother. Learn from her strengths, her courage, and her faithfulness. Listen to her. She may not be a whiz at texting; she may not even have a Facebook page. But when it comes to matters of the heart and the things of the Lord, she has a wealth of knowledge. As you approach the time for marriage and young motherhood, she will be your greatest source of wisdom. No other person on earth loves you in the same way or is willing to sacrifice as much to encourage you and help you find happiness—in this life and forever."                     Elder Russell M Ballard

The other day, I made the mistake of telling my mom she was the 'coolest mom ever.' Based on the opinions of my younger siblings, 'coolest' is apparently not the correct word. That's ok. Cool is too general anyway. I love Elder Ballard's description of mothers because I think it fits mine so perfectly: my mom is truly courageous, faithful, sacrificing, and wise. She is the one I want to talk to when I'm troubled or excited because I know she will have wisdom and understanding to offer. Especially as I've been married and become that much closer to having children (still not too close -- don't get excited) I know I will be desperately in need of her guidance and I'm so grateful that it will be there!

Happy Mothers Day Mom! I love you so much!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to our mom's! We hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day, even though we're not there to help celebrate. Today in Sacrament, since our ward has a Primary that consists of 2, the men sang "I often go walking"

I often go walking in meadows of clover,
And I gather armfuls of blossoms of blue.
I gather the blossoms the whole meadow over;
Dear mother, all flowers remind me of you.

O mother, I give you my love with each flower
To give forth sweet fragrance a whole lifetime through;
For if I love blossoms and meadows and walking,
I learn how to love them, dear mother, from you.

When I think of the things I love - learning, reading, swimming and more - I know I learned to love them from my mother. Thanks Mom for teaching me how and what to love!

Graduation





After four years of fun and frolic and slaving away for hours in the Clyde building, graduating felt a little strange, a little unreal. It's fun to tell yourself there will never be another finals week but its much harder to believe it.

 Finals Week (notice the crazed look in our eyes)



   
     Of course, for me the unreal feeling may stem from the fact that I'm not officially done. I have to take a class this Spring so that I can keep my on-campus job. I walked on Friday and was back in class on Tuesday morning at 8am learning Chinese. (I couldn't possible have just taken racquetball or something)
    For Stephen, the anticlimatic-ness of it all probably comes from the fact that his education is not over. Still many more finals weeks to come.
    Still, it was so nice to have parents and family and friends gathered around us for a few days. Thanks to everyone who supported us!

    We're excited to move on with our lives come August. We're sad to leave the things that we love about Provo: the mountains, BYU, good rock climbing, friends. We're saddest to leave the family that is near by. But we've still got the whole summer ahead of us and, by golly, we plan to enjoy it.

Our First Year: Summer

Stephen posted a little about our first year together and I just wanted to add some pictures to his post. Here's somewhat of a representation of our first summer. Hopefully, the rest of the seasons with follow :)

Our wedding, obviously

Honeymoon in Yosemite

Disneyland with Mom and Dad Pulsipher

Trip to San Diego

First camping trip as a married couple

Visit with Dan, Genni, and kids

Richland, WA