Happy Halloween!

Jen and I won a costume contest this year at the big Halloween party we went to! We both got gift cards to iTunes. How sweet is that? She dressed up as Cruella De Vil and suggested that I dress up as a dalmatian. How stinkin' cute are we? We talked Jana into come with us to the party and dressing up as her playing card that she was at work - her team all dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland. Super fun party.

Pumpkin Carvin'

Jana and I carved pumpkins tonight.
It's just not Halloween without jack 'o' lanterns!

Perk of my Job

So... here is one more reason why I loooooooove my job: I got the royal treatment at the football game today - the BYU vs. UNLV game. We won - 42 to 35. It was a close game though! We were neck and neck the whole time until the very end.

But anyway, since I am the HR Consultant over the Athletics department Janie offered to give me a tour of the game and what all the Athletic personnel are doing during the game to make sure it is running smoothly and everything is getting done. I saw the marketing personnel making sure that all the corporate sponsor contract terms were being met, I saw the marketing guy that writes the script for all the entertainment in action, I saw the video guys filming the game so the coaches can use the footage in coaching, I saw the sound system people, the announcers (both the internal and the fan one), I saw the Cougar Club people in action entertaining all the big donors in the fancy-schmancy tents and Cougar Blue rooms, I even went down on the field to see the equipment managers, trainers and operations guys in action. It was awesome!

Janie was a most excellent tour hostess. And then she took me into the Legacy tent where we got to munch on some Chocolate fountain fondue and I got to eat my Tucano's catered lunch up in the press box. Pretty cool, huh? When will I ever get to do anything like that again? Oh - and I got two free Shade t-shirts. I'm wearing one right now... as I write this entry. :)

Wordless Wednesday - Homemade Placemats for the United Way Auction

Best Sabbath in a Long Time

Wow. Today was probably the most spiritual Sabbath I have had in a long time. I felt the Spirit so strongly in Relief Society. I was literally crying. I even attempted to make a comment on the lesson while crying... that is not an easy thing to do. The Spirit was testifying to my heart, my soul, that I am blessed. That everything will work out just as everything has worked out in the past. Just looking back on the experience of my failed engagement reminds me that Heavenly Father is in the details of my life. He literally put my life back together again after the engagement went south and he gave me strength to not break down emotionally every time a friend would ask me why I was still in Provo or how married-life was. (FYI - this was six years ago and I was suppose to marry in December and move to Ohio immediately following our marriage. When it went south, I chose to stay in Provo and in my same ward, that is why I got questions from friends when school started again in January.)

And then Sunday School ended phenomenally. Although I didn't understand the full meaning of the "fork-in-the-road" story until after I got home from church. It was when I called my mom for my Sunday phone call, that the full meaning of the story hit me like a ton of bricks.

Ever since my engagement failed six years ago, I've been asking myself the question, "Why did that happen? Why did I feel like I got a positive answer to my prayers with regard marrying him when Heavenly Father knew it would go south?" Because I did get a positive answer to my prayers. I can't deny it. Heavenly Father was in the details of my life even then - even down to telling me which classes to take and when so I could be ready to move to Ohio come December. But then why, after answering my prayer and confirming my desire to marry this young man, did it go south? Of course I could have been misinterpreting, but I don't think I was.

Well, this story, that I am about to quote here was the answer to my questions. My questions that I have had for six years. Heavenly Father truly does work in His own time-table. He truly does answer prayers. And He answers prayers in a way that I will understand best and will speak to my heart and my mind (meaning makes sense and feels good).

So now for the story that answers all my questions. It is by Matthew Holland and you can find it in the July 2005 New Era magazine on page 27, called "Wrong Roads and Revelation."

“Matt, let’s go to the Colorado River,” Dad suggested. I was seven years old, and my family was visiting both sets of grandparents in St. George, Utah. Eager to see the mighty Colorado, I yelled, “Great! Let me get my skipping stones.”

Little did I know that he meant we were going to the Grand Canyon traveling over cow trails. Yes, we would see the Colorado River, but we would be on a cliff about a mile (1.5 km) above it. There would be no skipping of stones.

Grandpa Holland loaned us his truck and gave us a homemade map and a set of directions to help us find our way on a little-used dusty path along the back roads of the Utah-Arizona border. As we turned off the paved road, lumbered through the desert, climbed a set of hills, crossed another desert, went up another set of hills, I wondered how Grandpa or anyone else ever found this place.

We reached the overlook of the Grand Canyon late in the afternoon. After looking at the spectacular view and launching a few stones as far as I could throw, we got back into Grandpa’s old truck and started the trek home.

It was dusk, and we had only gone a bumpy mile or two when we came to a fork in the road. We stopped. Dad was not certain which trail we had come in on. He knew he had to make the right decision. There wasn’t much light left, light he desperately needed to ensure he could make the correct turns the rest of the way home.

Wasting time on a wrong road now meant we would face the difficult task of making our way home in the dark.

As we did whenever we had a family problem or concern, we prayed. After we both said amen, Dad turned and asked me what I thought we should do. I answered and said, “All during the prayer, I just kept feeling, ‘Go to the left.’ ”

Dad responded, “I had the exact same impression.”

This was my first experience receiving and recognizing revelation.

We started down the dirt road to the left. We had traveled only about 10 minutes when our road came to a sudden dead-end. My father promptly whipped the truck around, roared back to that fork in the path, and started down the road to the right. Fortunately, there was still just enough light to help us navigate the web of dirt roads that would take us home.

We were almost back to St. George, now on roads my father knew well, and the thick darkness of the night was lit by pinholes of thousands of stars.

I was troubled. With my head resting on my dad’s leg and my legs stretched across the seat, I asked, “Dad, why did we both feel like Heavenly Father told us to go down the road to the left when it was the wrong road?”

My dad said, “Matty, I’ve been thinking and silently praying about that same thing all the way home, because I really did feel a very distinct impression to take the road to the left.”

I was relieved that my first experience with revelation had a “second witness.”

He continued, “The Lord has taught us an important lesson today. Because we were prompted to take the road to the left, we quickly discovered which one was the right one. When we turned around and got on the right road, I was able to travel along its many unfamiliar twists and turnoffs perfectly confident I was headed in the right direction.

“If we had started on the right road, we might have driven for 30 minutes or so, become uneasy with the unfamiliar surroundings, and been tempted to turn back. If we had done that, we would have discovered the dead-end so late that it would have been too dark to find our way back in totally unfamiliar territory.”

I understood and have never forgotten the lesson my Heavenly Father and earthly father taught me that afternoon. Sometimes in response to prayers, the Lord may guide us down what seems to be the wrong road—or at least a road we don’t understand—so, in due time, He can get us firmly and without question on the right road. Of course, He would never lead us down a path of sin, but He might lead us down a road of valuable experience. Sometimes in our journey through life we can get from point A to point C only by taking a short side road to point B. We had prayed that we could make it safely home that day, and we did.

So now I know. Now I know that Heavenly Father took me down that dead-end (failed-engagement) path in order for me to know without a shadow of a doubt that I am on the right path now... the right path for me... right now. I have no room for doubt or fear. Only faith. Faith that Heavenly Father has a plan for me and that everything truly will work out in the end.

Normally, I don't post something this personal on my blog... but I've felt prompted to do it this time. I hope I was prompted to do so because someone that reads my blog will also find meaning and answers in my testimony of this most spiritual Sunday.

24 Hours of Moab

Jen, Jed and I went down to Moab this past weekend to help out with the 24 Hours of Moab mountain biking race. Jen rode in this race last year with her team (whom we were supporting this year) but decided it was too crazy of a race... to be riding in the wee hours of the night and have your headlamp and back up flash light all run out of batteries. Jen and Jed took pictures and I helped out as a Registrar for the event. It was crazy!

We arrived Friday night and set up camp with the team and then headed into dinner - which was organized and put on by a couple of wives of the team members - they fed 50 people... every meal of the weekend plus some hot soup for the riders that had to ride in the middle of the night. The race truly is a 24 hour race... as in you have a team (or not) and take turns riding ... you want to get as many laps as possible in the 24 hours so you can win the prize.

Anyway, there were some terrible winds. I swear it was a literal sandstorm down there... the wind blew all Friday night and it blew sand up and under the fly of our tent so I would wake up to sand pelting my face. I did my work for 8 hours on Saturday in the main tent... and unfortunately for me, the wind blew the sand in the two sides of the tent that were open, but since the other two sides were blocked off... it just stayed in the tent... check out my VERY dirty face in the pic below. I was dirtier than the riders!! You can see how the riders all picked up the dust for us in the tent... see the pic with them all running? They started the race with a run in order to break up the riders so they weren't all starting at the same time... they don't use waves or heats for this race.

But I did get to rinse off in a "shower" that the event provided. And Saturday night was much more pleasant because the 35 mph winds finally disappeared. Then we came back early on Sunday so I could make it to my church meeting by 4:00.

You know what is kind of crazy about this event? It's not actually held in Moab... it is held out in the boonies off a dirt road so we basically stayed in a city of cars, tents, camp-trailers, and a stage ... there were several thousand people there.

3rd Annual Fall Colors & Dutch Oven Dessert

We did it again. Some friends and I went up to the mountains to enjoy the fall colors and a little fresh peach cobbler in the dutch oven. We went to Bridal Veil Falls park though... weather and time did not permit fulfillment of all the aspects of the tradition. We had such a good time.... took pictures, walked up to the falls, played with Potter, the Great Dane, and ate the dessert.