I found...

... a new blog to read. It feels like my life, just a few months ahead. She is really cute and funny. Ok, I wish I was more funny because sometimes I am just too serious! Dave has a sense of humor. Back in November I missed church for two weeks because I was at a couple of dance medicine conferences. People were asking Dave where I was and he said I had a crisis of faith because of the length of Brigham Young's beard! Good thing we are getting married.

Scripture Reading

I started getting bored a few years ago after reading the Book of Mormon for the umpteenth time. Start to Finish, Start to Finish, blah, blah. So I have been reading with different things in mind. I heard about reading as if it was a novel, just for the story, and that was fun wanting to know what was next. But after that I started reading to look for a specific topic. First it was anything to do with the Godhead, highlighting in pink. Yep, I'm sure Heavenly Father won't mind having His name highlighted in pink. :) Then repentance (green), faith (yellow), prayer (blue), etc, any topic that I wanted to learn more about. But then I got new scriptures (travel size, the old ones were big print so I could read without my glasses), so I had to do all the topic stuff over again for the new scriptures.

Now I have a new calling as 1st Counselor in the Young Women. Normally the 1st C is over the Mia Maids (14-15 year olds), but ours are all inactive and we only have one Laurel (16-17 year olds) and her Mom is the YW Prez, so she asked if we could switch. The 2nd C is a new convert and doesn't really know the YW program, so the YW Prez figured she will help her out more. I love our only Laurel, she is a sweetie. We work on, or try to work on, Personal Progress every Sunday after the lesson. One Sunday she told me she wanted to focus on finishing the Virtue value. I got home and decided that Personal Progress has changed so much since I got my medallion that I needed to read it for myself. There are so many scriptures involved in each value experience now, that it has taken a while, I'm only up to Choice and Accountability. I really like the new Personal Progress, all the

experiences are applicable to the lives of the YW and will help them in the future. And everything is online now to make it easier for the girls when they loose their books, which happens frequently. Here is the new YW Theme too:

Young Woman Theme

WE ARE DAUGHTERS of our Heavenly Father,

who loves us, and we love Him.

WE WILL “STAND as witnesses of God

at all times and in all things, and in all

places” as we strive to live the

Young Women values, which are:

Faith • Divine Nature

Individual Worth • Knowledge

Choice and Accountability

Good Works • Integrity

and Virtue

WE BELIEVE as we come to accept and act

upon these values, WE WILL BE PREPARED

to strengthen home and family, make and

keep sacred covenants, receive

the ordinances of the temple, and enjoy

the blessings of exaltation.

Mosiah 18:9

It's Official...

Dave and I are engaged! When we first started dating it felt too convenient to arrive in England and immediately find someone. There must have been a reason for me to wait 8 months for my visa and come here for my PhD. So now I find out why.

April 14th at the Jordan River Temple. There will be two celebrations, in Provo and Walsall. If you wanna come to one of the parties go to the facebook event.

Cranky

The best word to describe my mood the last couple of days is Cranky! In no particular order:

1. I hate being cold and it's really cold in England right now.
2. I found out my YOUNGER cousin Jodie, who is getting married in December, chose purple for her wedding colors even though I picked purple before she was even born (yes I am 15 years older than her)!
3. I have some major deadlines coming up with school.
4. I have done a bunch of work since August and have not been paid for any of it and now I have bills to pay!
5. Make sure Dave buys a nice shirt before we take pictures on Saturday.
6. It's my turn to teach the lesson on Sunday.
7. The librarian at school was twitchy today.
8. Find out if I will be working in January when I go home to Utah.
9. I have a lesson to plan and teach on Thursday in London.
10. The Bishop wanted to give me a second calling.
11. I am the grad student rep for my department and the university wants to have the grad student meeting in a hallway! (Yeah, I'm serious.)
12. Schedule appointments for when I go home in December/January; dress, reception, hair, invitations, and flowers all done.
13. Make sure the photographer does not go overboard with wanting to take tons of Christmas pictures for the engagement pictures. Yeah, I know it's a SPRING wedding.

Just a tiny bit stressed.

COLD

It's gotten really cold here in Walsall, it was 36° yesterday. Another thing I have learned about English people: they turn off the heat at night. Does that even make sense? Why would someone do that? Don't they know that if the temperature is lower then you have a higher risk of getting sick (I got that from my biology class in high school)? My roommate rationalized that if your duvet is a certain tog then you should be ok at night. So now I think, what is a tog? The first website I went to said this: "The tog rating is a human-friendly system used to indicate the warmth of duvets, sleeping bags, etc. It is mainly used in the UK." Don't they realize you can die from hypothermia? So according to my roommate if the Donner party would have had a higher tog number they would have survived? I've already warned Dave that we will not be continuing this bizarre practice. Our rule will be, when we are in the house the heat is on.

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving!