Oh The Places You'll Go, The People You'll Meet!

September has been filled with travels yet again. Labor day weekend, I had the pleasure of going to Nauvoo with my original ward family. Accompanied by my oldest niece, Cortney. What a wonderful, spiritual, outstanding trip that was! We all stayed in the Nauvoo House, where Emma Smith died and lifted her hands to say, "Joseph, Joseph". There is no doubt in my mind he was there to receive her and take her home. God bless that woman who suffered, and sacrificed so much for the gospels sake. She was 4 months pregnant when Joseph and Hyrum died at Carthage Jail. I can't imagine what kind of courage it took to keep living on, and have hope for the baby that was soon arriving. Cortney and I flew directly into Indy, and my parents picked us up, and we drove straight to Nauvoo from there (another 5-6 hours). We were exhausted by the time we got there. It was so nice to be among my ward family from Indiana again. I love those guys so much!

Then, the following weekend, my sister and I went to Oklahoma City for the Oklahoma vs. Florida State game. We witnessed first hand that massacre! It was still a fun weekend. We have a friend that grew up in Oklahoma just 20 min from where the game took place. We stayed with her parents, and enjoyed catching back up with them. Oklahoma is a beautiful place in my opinion. We didn't get to spend a whole lot of time outside the game, but it was a fun time enjoyed with great friends! I also was introduced to Hideaway Pizza (PHENOMENAL PIZZA!!). If you ever get the chance, go there! Regardless of the score, it's always a fun time when Seminoles are around! I'll support them if they win or lose! GO NOLES!!!

Then the following weekend, I was off to my Cousin, Tara's wedding in Indiana! It was a very beautiful occasion, which the bride and many others slaved away many hours getting every detail together. She looked flawless! She had an amazing dress, and just radiated beauty and grace! After we survived the 1 1/2 ceremony in the Catholic church, I wanted to break dance on the way back down the aisle. I was excited to share in that special day with her, and be a bridesmaid. Minutes before lining up we discovered the bride left her shoes at the reception hall, because she was up there late in the night trying to make everything perfect for her wedding. Someone quickly ran over there, and as we were all lining up, she slipped on her shoes. (Nobody noticed the behind the scenes work). We were off on a hay ride following the ceremony. Thankfully, I was able to pop off my 4 inch heels before making the climb up. (FYI, wearing heels when you are already 5'10" makes you look like Jolly Green Giant!) It was fun seeing all my family, and being able to interact with some that I hadn't seen in a while. As usual, many thought I was drunk. I guess they don't know that I am this crazy on a day-to-day basis. Other than peeing freely in the parking lot, I guess I fit in with the ways of the drunks haha... (I'm not sure that's a good thing). I loaded the plane with an hour of sleep, and grabbed my car and headed to church. I was able to completely change while driving. I was impressed with myself. I got to church and had only missed the opening song... POINTS!!! However, I was pretty useless. I felt to out of touch with reality.

Now this weekend, I am happy to report, we will be celebrating the engagement of my brother, Craig!! We are so HAPPY and EXCITED for him! He has waited a long time, and we couldn't be more thrilled for he and Hannah! I'm excited for the adventures that Hannah and I will accomplish together. She has a great zest and zeal for life that I can appreciate. She is a wonderful girl, and I'm elated to have her as apart of our family in the near future!! CONGRATS CRAIG & HANNAH!!! WE LOVE YOU!!

Out of the Mouth of my nieces!!

Kayla and Grace were playing around with our new set of Cutco food scissors, which are VERY sharp!! Kayla ended up cutting Grace's finger on accident. Kayla just sobbed because she had hurt her sister. The next day I was talking to Grace about the importance of keeping her finger clean and we needed to be sure to keep a fresh bandage on it so it wouldn't get infected. Grace said "Can my finger fall off!?!?!" I said well, its unlikely, but if you don't take care of it, and it gets infected, yes it could fall off.. She responds "Well, then I'm keeping my bandaid on until Jesus comes, so when I meet him he can heal my finger." How freaking cute!! hahaha

Another Cute Story--

To preface this my mom's little Chihuahua died about a month ago and she was a little demond dog to everyone. If you looked at her cross eyed she would attack you. While Lori and I were in Europe, the girls were with my parents in Indiana. They got to be there when Hailey (the dog) died.

So today I took the girls for lunch after school. Grace is in my backseat with a very contemplative stare, and finally erupts with "Lydia, do you remember Hailey, Nana's dog that died?" Yeah Grace I know. She then laughs and says "Its funny to think of her as an angel." hahaha Then Kayla chips in "Yeah, she probably bit Jesus when she met him." hahahaha These kids are such comic relief!! I love them to BITS!!

What a Summer!!

Parthenon with my sister!!

This Water was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL in Greece!!!!
The State Farm Crew!
Budapest, Hungary
My sister and I in Prague!
Florida Gator fan all the way in Prague!!
This was taken in Salzburg

We did the Sound of Music Tour, which was filmed in Salzburg!
This is us in Vienna, wearing our uniform! haha
This guy at this restaurant came out singing "like a good neighbor, state farm is there" :)

As sad as it seems, summer is quickly approaching a close. :/

I've traveled to many beautiful places this summer, and enjoyed all the beauty of the earth that surrounds me. I've established an even greater appreciation for my freedoms I enjoy as an American.

My Aunt Joann passed just a few days after my last post. (mid June) In the middle of dress rehearsals for dance recital, we took an emergency trip home (Indiana) to attend the funeral. I'm so glad that she is in peace, and finally resting (something she didn't get to experience much in this life).

4th of July weekend my friend, Crystal and I flew to Baltimore/DC area to visit our friend Kellie. I was also very excited that my friend, Alana drove down from New Jersey to spend the weekend with us. Both Kellie and Alana used to live in Orlando. It was such a BLAST to be with them! We got to see many sites, plunge into rivers and watch the explosion of fireworks while we were seated at the Lincoln Memorial in DC followed by a quick escape to the DC metro.

I was home for 5 days, and then we headed out to my cousin Abby's wedding in Georgia. It was fun to be at the hotel with all my family. We got to have lots of fun memories together. The beach was disgusting! There were "sea roaches" EVERYWHERE!! The water was brown and so was the sand. I prefer the nastiest Florida beach over that beach any day. After a fun-filled weekend with all the family we headed to Indiana. I drove mom and dad's rental car with grandma accompanying us home. I've never had so much fun traveling with family. We would stop for about 45 min at each gas station just to chat and laugh about things. I usually wouldn't enjoy that kind of thing, but it was a BLAST. We finally arrived back at my parents at 4:30am. After having rested until 11am I got showered up and headed to North western Ohio to meet up with my best friend, James and his then girlfriend (now fiancee). I got there late that evening, and then we headed to Cedar Point the very next morning. AMAZING!!! We rode like 13 different roller coasters, and I still didn't get to them all. I rode the dragster it goes -0-165 in 4 seconds and takes you straight up and straight down. My brand new camera fell out of my pocket and amazingly was waiting for me at my feet when I unhooked my seatbelt. I'm convinced in some divine intervention there! I was beyond tired after that day. We went back to Ashley's house and had some pizza and crashed. I woke up at 5am to head back to Indiana to catch my flight back to Florida.

After being back in Florida for 3 days I boarded a plane to head to Philly to catch my plane over to Munich, Germany and then a final destination in Vienna, Austria. Due to weather in Philly, our plane in Orlando was delayed almost 3 hrs. Once we got to Philly our plane to Munich was loading so I ran from terminal D to Terminal A (Philly airport takes about 15 min to get from each terminal). I had a backpack on and was wheeling my carry-on behind me RUNNING like I was about to loose my legs ONLY TO FIND OUT our plane left us! We had another hour and a half until our next flight, which wasn't bad. We were able to exchange currency with no fee, eat and mentally prepare for our international flight. We were rerouted to Frankfurt, Germany, which was a NIGHTMARE! We had no boarding passes, we didn't speak the language, and on top of all that we had to switch airlines. Finally, I found someone to speak English and we were able to get "in the system"... It was a breath of fresh air when we finally got to our gate and found some of our State Farm buddies. We get over to Vienna and lo and behold my sister and I have NO LUGGAGE haha... It was funny for the first few hours and then after 3 days it wasn't so funny. Thankfully I had packed a few extra under clothes in my carry on. My sister wasn't as lucky. When we would call the airlines, they would reply we needed to be patient, this was a busy time of year. Easy for them to say. As soon as we got our luggage we had to be downstairs and ready to go to the Vienna Alps in 20 min and in that 20 min I was showered and had fresh clothes on, hair dried and make-up on ... I was SOOO THANKFUL to have clean clothes!!! Every night before I went to bed I thanked the Lord for allowing me to have the opportunity to travel to so many lands. In spite of all the crazy things that happened, I had an absolute blast. Even with no luggage, we didn't miss a beat. I made Lori set the Alarm for 6am and we generally wouldn't get back to the room until 2am. It was SO MUCH FUN!! :) I loved hanging out with all the State Farm people. Everyone was laughing at how much energy we had to go and see everything. While in Vienna, we traveled to Salzburg, Prague, Melk, and Budapest and the Vienna Alps. it was AMAZING!!

We then extended our stay outside of the State Farm family, and headed to Greece!! ASTONISHINGLY BEAUTIFUL!!! It's everything everyone talks about! Athens was kinda dirty, well really dirty actually. My sister was FREAKED!! :) She has some of my Momma's blood in her. The morning we left Vienna we got up early again, and booked it across town on foot to the Belvedere to take some final pictures. We rushed back, picked up our suitcases and left for the airport. As soon as we were seated on the plane, my sister and I were passed out. We were delayed in taking off, and had to sit there for 45 min. I felt none of that. The only thing I felt was the drool slipping out onto my chest hahahaha... I was OUT!!! We grabbed a taxi to take us to our hotel, which was an amazing experience. My sister and I packed a suitcase a piece, and a carry on a piece. The trunks in Greece our VERY SMALL, so they strapped bunjee cords in place to hold the trunk down. After our baggage getting lost, my sister was a little leery about our suitcases taking a dive on the freeway in Athens. Our macho man cab driver assured my sister, all would be well. As soon as we got on interstate I quickly noticed that was how they rolled in Greece... Lots of bungee corded trunks. :) Once we arrived at the hotel, I thought I was going to have to wheel my sister in. She was about to have a meltdown because the atmosphere that surrounded the hotel. In America, if we had been in the same situation you would have found drug dealers and guns shooting off in such surroundings. However, it was a pretty safe neighborhood for Greece. Since we had run our legs off so much that week, we decided to take the rest of that day to rest, and also let my sister get brave enough to tackle Athens in the morning. Once we got to the top of our hotel, she could see it wasn't all bad, and was comforted a little. The next morning I remarked that we needed a game plan if we got separated, we would know where to meet back up. She quickly interjected, that she would be on me like white on rice and that wouldn't happen HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! It's funny because when I look at the pictures from the first day in Athens, my sister is in the corner of all of them, because she truly was on me like white on rice. :) We had a GRAND TIME checking out the Acropolis!! FYI, if you go, take water with you! They sell it NO WHERE on the Acropolis.. I had to sit down and regroup because I was so dehydrated. Once down from the acropolis, I found someone that sold a 1.5 litter of water, and I had it finished in 10 min. I knew how dehydrated I was when I didn't go to the bathroom for 4 hours after I drank 1.5 litters. The following day we took a day cruise to 3 of the Greek Isles... BEST THING EVER!!! We got some great sun, and some FANTASTIC VIEWS!! I would love to take 3 weeks just to explore the Greek Isles! Should definitely be on EVERYONES bucket list. I got to take a dip in the Mediterranean Sea (If not the Med, one that empties into it) That was on my personal bucket list.

After 4 days in Greece, my sister and I returned home. I had been awake 26 hours when I finally went to bed. The first night home I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and totally forgot I was home. I thought someone was trying to be nice and give me a bed to sleep in after falling asleep on a bus (which I frequently did). I began yelling for my sister, and the only thing that kept going through my mind was that my cell phone couldn't work in Europe, and how was I going to find my sister!?!?! HAHAHAHA!!! As soon as my feet touched my cork floor in my bedroom I was like "I'm home, you're in your room you idiot" hahaha That's when you know you've been gone awhile. That was THE BEST sister vacation probably EVER!! We shared very special bonding times, and funny memories that will last a lifetime. For selfish reasons, I'm so glad she isn't married, so I can go on these trips! :)

Here are a few pictures! I have many more on Facebook :)

The Summer Travels Begin!

Memorial Day weekend I had the great opportunity to fly home to Cincinnati, and meet up with kids back home to attend the Kirtland YSA conference. What a great experience that was. I had great company for the 5 hour drive up to Kirtland, and then I got to meet up with a family I used to babysit for. It was so weird seeing how much they have grown up. I felt SO old!! Nevertheless, it was wonderful catching up with them, and seeing where life has taken them.

At the YSA Conference the keynote speaker was Brother John Bytheway, which if you don't know is a HUGE LDS author/speaker.. Some of his books had really helped me out in High School, and so it was really neat to see him speak in person. It was a perfect weekend, with just the right amount of fun/humor/friends/spirituality.. I'm so glad I went!! One of the main things that John Bytheway was speaking about was the power of our examples. His dad was in world war II and he wasn't a member of our faith, or any religion whatsoever, but there was this guy there that was a member of our faith, and he took John's dad to church with him aboard the ship. That young man later died, but it was his example that led his dad to later joining the church. He then mentioned that while he was on his mission he was told by a recent member to go to this man's house and speak to him. So they did, and he invited them in, but was very short and abrasive with the young missionaries. Brother Bytheway gets his flip chart out and it says "why are we here?" "What is the purpose in life?" and "Where are we going when I die?" He said the guy was astonished, and his eyes filled up with tears and he said your so young, how could you know this? He said his eyes filled with tears and he went in the other room to grab a book and the front page in his handwriting said "My eternal questions" and 3 of those 4 questions were on John's flip chart. It was at that moment I realized how much I have to be thankful for in my life. I've known since I was in diapers these questions that were this man's eternal questions.

We were also very blessed to be able to attend sacrament meeting inside the Kirtland temple. It was kind of over whelming to be singing "The Spirit of God" inside the Kirtland temple where the priesthood keys were restored once more to this dispensation. How much power had been restored in the very room I was in. It was quite the experience! It put me on a high that I needed to start learning my history again. There was a girl at the conference that bore her testimony about being a member for 2 months, and she spoke about being a nonbeliever in God or in any kind of religion. She spoke about the example of someone she loved that brought her into the church. She cried and pleaded with each of us to be that example, and to live up to who we are, because we need to be those examples and to bring others unto Christ. She then spoke of the immense peace and joy and "light" that she has in her life now, and everything is so much clearer and brighter. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room!

I was touched so deeply when we went to visit the John Johnson farm. It was there that Joseph was pulled out of his bed and yanked outside that cold night and tarred and feathered. It was there that many revelations occurred. There is an incredible spirit to be felt there, and I would encourage anyone to go! I'm so grateful for all those early saints that sacrificed so much so that we could have all that we enjoy today.

Sunday night we returned to my home town of Batesville, Indiana. I was so anxious to get home and to spend time with my family. It was so hard to know I would only be home a few days, and the majority of it would be 5 hours away at a conference. I was only in my home for a day and a half; however, I had the best time with my parents. Dad has been off work due to his recent surgery, so we got to spend a lot of quality time together. Mom and I exercised together, read scriptures together, had lots of quality time together on the deck observing all the BEAUTIFUL scenery that is the backdrop of my parents yard that is so breathtaking in my opinion. It is such a nice change to go from rather brown palm trees to beautiful, luscious greenery. I LOVE the greenery!!! One of my favorite parts of home! Monday night was Adam's 22nd birthday! I got to be there for that. Grandma Benham was able to come over and join us for dinner. I had missed her so much! We had the best conversations, and we talked about anything and everything and yet it was a deep fulfilling conversation. It was hard to say goodbye to her because I just wanted to go home with her and spend some time with her. Both of us teared up when we said our goodbyes. It was a very emotional goodbye this time leaving home, and I felt like it was in part due to my recent homesickness.

I love my dear family, and I couldn't imagine my life without the blessing of them in my life. They bring so much laughter, so much joy and so much fulfillment into my life. I'm so grateful to call them my own! :)

Out of the mouth of babes...

So Saturday we went to Aquatica (Sea World's water park) and it had been a BEAUTIFUl, and as typical in Florida it quickly clouded over and began to thunder and we got out of the pool for a little bit. Grace quickly told Kayla that she didn't need to fear over the thunder, it was just "Angels bowling in heaven" hahahhaha HOW CUTE!!! I'm not too sure where she heard that, but it cracked me up. We had a wonderful time being together and enjoying the lovely day. My nieces informed me that they were so grateful that I was their aunt and that if something happened to my sister they wanted me to raise them haha morbid little freaks!

More fun/funny moments with the nieces!!

Today is a BEAUTIFUL day here in central Florida, so I decided to go on my run earlier than normal. I took Chloe (Rusty's daughter) along with me to enjoy it all. She was passed out in the stroller after 10 strides! I looked down and her paci was plunging out of her mouth. She is such a delight! She stayed passed out for the whole hour and 20 min we were there. We got back to the car and she woke up to give me and huge grin and we were off to pick Grace (Lori's daughter) up from Preschool.

We stroll up to the pre-school and Grace is usually waiting for us and her teacher brings her out. I sat there for 5 min contemplating pulling Chloe out of her car seat, and investigating with my hot and steamy nasty-self! Just then Grace's teacher is carrying her to the car Grace holding her shoes on her belly while her buttcrack is exposed for the hole world to see I broke down laughing while her teacher explained they were cleaning up from their activity and Grace was a mess, so they had to clean her up (oh how typical that is). We get back to the house, and I am making lunch for Chloe and Grace while they are watching Dora the explorer. They were tying to teach the kids how to say "abajo" which means down.. Grace is being a good girl and repeating everything Dora is telling her to, and she looks at me and says, "Lydia, why does it sound like she says butthole?" HAHAHAHAHA I laughed so hard and had to call my sister to crack up at what she had just discovered! I don't know where she comes up with this stuff!

I love these kids! My life is never dull or boring with these girls!

Life is such a wonderful journey!

I'm so thankful to have this semester over! Even more thankful that I've concurred one of my biggest fears--MATH! For me, math has always been so abstract to grasp, but it is the only thing standing in my way of obtaining the degree that I want so badly. I knew that I had to face it head-on. I would get knots in my stomach just thinking about it, seriously. I would jump out of an airplane a hundred times before I would want to take a math class! Most people have a list of all these fears like speaking in front of large crowds, skydiving, spiders, Chucky etc. My only fears are Math and snakes! So to take this on caused me more anxiety than I would ever admit to anyone, but I went forward praying every step of the way. I would have to motivate myself to study for this ugly subject. if I didn't get an application of a concept, then I would study even harder. I got to know myself and my own willpower on a deeper level over the course of this semester. I had to learn to let things I desperately wanted to do go by the way side. I wanted to finish this, and prove to myself I could do it. I had found excuses for years as to why I didn't need to take the class after having signed up for it. I counted the other day, and I had dropped this very class 4 times previously WOW! What a nutcase, right?? I don't think anyone can understand my legitimate fear. I wasn't making it up at all.

I sucked it up, was usually early and attended EVERY class, sat at the front of the class (in a class I hated). I was even less excited that we had about 7 tests over the next 16 weeks. Not just little tests, BIG, HUGE 50 question tests.. My nerves were fried, but I kept a positive attitude about it, and tried to encourage myself. I studied my guts out, and some tests it didn't matter how hard I had studied, my hard work went un-rewarded. I remember going to the lake after getting my results with tears in my eyes asking heavenly father "why?". I had worked so hard and I couldn't understand why I wasn't being rewarded for all my efforts I had put forth. Couldn't he see I was trying? In Ether12:27 it says "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." That verse kept repeating over and over again in my mind.. I kept thinking okay, Lord how much more humbled do you need me to be? I have faith, that's the only reason I'm taking this class. I know I couldn't do it on my own. I've asked for you help, now where are you when I need you? (being a big brat). After thinking those thoughts I felt so guilty. How could I assume he had left me? He hadn't left me, he knew I had faith in him, and he just wanted me to know and understand that it wasn't my power that could make everything work out, that I had to put my total trust in him and his matchless power. I then had the courage to not give up, that he truly was with me, and would help me finish strong. I ended up having a successful grade after all my stress.

Moral of the story is this.. God gives us all weaknesses/fears/trials all of which to compel us to be humbled. All in hopes that we turn to him, walking forward in faith, trusting in his mercy and endless, yet matchless power. Whatever task is placed before us, we need to not fear, but exercise faith over fear, and when we do that we will be able to walk through those trials and tribulations that will be for our own growth and good.