THe PeRFeCT HeaRT

I came across this story many years ago, and just recently found the whole thing on line, I thought it would be a good thing to share since it touches my heart in so many ways.

THE PERFECT HEART

"A young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it.

But an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.”

The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly but full of scars. It had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in … but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. The young man looked at the old man’s heart and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine … mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”

“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking … but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love….. I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them … and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away … and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges … giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too … and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?”

The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man.

The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit …. but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his."

Got It Covered...

This picture says it all. If the "world ends" aka if all the technology in the world stopped working and grocery stores were no longer a viable source of food people may panic. People would panic. There would be a world wide frenzy in search for food, people would die of starvation if they didn't know how to get food without a grocery store (which is kind of pathetic but probably true). While everyone else results to scavenging etc, I would be feasting. I wouldn't have that problem, I wouldn't have to scavenge. My husband would keep us alive. He is great at spear fishing, normal fishing, he knows how to hunt birds and other kinds of animals; he can clean them and gut them and skin them before I could even blink and eye. He's a regular Bear Grylls.If my husband participated in the hunger games he would have been just like Katniss Everdeen, he's a survivor. So just in case the world ends, I want you all to know I'm not worried about a lack of food. I will survive, thanks to my husbands skills.

25 Years Wiser

I am 25.
TWENTY-FIVE.
1/4 of a century old.
OLD.
If the movie "In Time" was real, the clock on my arm would have started ticking down indicating that I only had a year left of life unless I gained or gave away time. It was weird to watch a movie where 25 was the age that everyone remained at and here I was turning 25. What irony, to watch that movie on the very day that I turned 25. What would I do with my life if I only had a year left to live. In all honesty, I'd have a baby. I'd start a family even with only a year left to live I'd want to have a child. I would also try to enjoy life more, which is sometimes hard to do. Agh. 25. I feel OLD! Kevin's brother said he didn't feel old until he turned 28... but I am 25 and I feel old. I don't have any kids, I just got married 6 months ago, but I did graduate from college and served a mission for England. I do feel accomplished, but I also feel like there are things I should have done already!

I did have a good birthday though and my husband was a sweetheart. He brought me flowers, so I woke up to him holding flowers and he made me french toast palooza. He was a total gem the entire day. Overall 25 has been good, but I still feel OLD. :) (Especially since Kevin is only 22, and will not be 23 until October--marrying someone younger, definitely doesn't help with the whole feeling old thing.) :)

Climb Every Mountain

Well I did it. I climbed to my first peak. Mt. Humpreys in Arizona. It's the highest peak in Arizona at 12,633 feet which is a pretty good altitude. It was really cool to get on top and be the highest point around for miles and miles, as far as I could see. It was a hard hike though, there were lots of roots and rocks on the trail and at parts there was some pretty steep incline. It's labeled on the internet as "strenuous" and in ways it was. The last thousand feet from the saddle to the summit was killer and we took it very slowly. Hiking + Altitude change is no joke! It was a lot of fun. I have been on lots of hikes before but this was my first summit. It tired me out like nobody's business BUT it did make me feel really accomplished, climbing that mountain showed me that I can do difficult things. If I can climb that mountain I can climb any mountain in front of me (tangible or imaginary).

So these pictures are of me when I started climbing up and at the end when I was on top. My calves have been sore for the last 4 days though haha. It feels good to climb a mountain, to be out in fresh air and do something that you don't necessarily feel like doing or that is hard. This is a really random blog about nothing very important except that you can climb every mountain. :) Such a fun experience, hard but very fun. Kevin and I are already planning the next summit we want to climb.

Rascally Rabbits

It all started a year ago when my husband (then just my friend) took me out to hunt rabbits. We cruised around in his Honda Civic on the back country roads with a spotlight, a shotgun and a rifle. I was determined to kill myself a "wascally wabbit", skin it, tan the hide and eat the meat.

Unfortunately I only got a rattlesnake and a kangaroo rat and ever since I have had RABBIT FEVER! I have wanted to kill a rabbit for ages, luckily for me they are ALL OVER the place where we live now, and rabbits are a bit of a nuisance here now. So one night we went on the warpath to get a rabbit! We were driving along this road and a rabbit was spotted, a first shot was fired, but it missed. Then it was my turn with the rabbit farther off then it had been. I placed the gun on the edge of the window, took careful aim and while zeroing in on my target I heard the comments of the people around me. "Don't feel bad if you don't get it, the sight is off we need to fix it." "Yeah good luck but you probably won't hit it." I ignored them as I saw the rabbit come into my sight and I quickly pulled the trigger before it could change it's mind and BAM! Hit that rabbit bottom!Haha!! I showed that wascally wabbit who was boss! This picture is Kevin holding my first rabbit. :)

Now for those of you who think I'm heartless in shooting rabbits, I'll have you know that I do have a soft spots for the little "vermin" (as my husband calls them). And though he calls them vermin he has a soft spot for them too, we found a little baby rabbit in the front yard today, it was the cutest thing ever and I wanted to keep it! Instead we held it and took pictures and put it back to survive in the wild.

Oh how I will miss my little baby rabbit! :) But I still have "RABBIT FEVER" so watch out all you wascally wabbits! I'm hungering for some rabbit flesh!

CAUTION: Firework emits shower of sparks

I love the 4th of July, it is by far one of my most favorite holidays (top 3 easy). This fourth of July was looking to be one of the best... started off with a pancake breakfast at 8am (the time was rather unfortunate) but happily I got to take a nice long nap afterwards :) Who doesn't love naps! My adventurous husband found a rope swing in the middle of this random small town about 15 minutes outside of Rochester, so he, our friend McKay and I all headed out to this rope swing (into a river) to spend our afternoon:

It was proving to be a great 4th of July as we had a lot of fun at the river. Later that night came the fireworks and Kevin and I had a firsthand experience of what to do when a firework unexpectedly explodes in your hand. Here are the steps:

1. Hold fountain firework in hand while it emits sparks.

2. When firework unexpectedly explodes with ground flowers into hand, drop firework and immediately run burnt hand under cold water.

3. Put ice on hand and head over to watch big fireworks in the sky. Wait 5 minutes until extreme pain sets in.

4. Hurry home and think of home remedies aka put in cold water (only thing that made it feel better- I also tried burn gel and a gauze wrap as directed online but he was in so much pain that he ripped it off less than 5 minutes later.)

5. Wait until injured party realizes that the pain is too extreme and agrees to be taken to the E.R. take picture of injured hand and relax in the E.R.

6. Doctor says the hand has 2nd and 1st degree burns, receive prescription for hefty pain-killer and allow hand to be lightly covered in neosporin and wrapped in gauze roll.

7. Go home, let pain-killer/narcotic set in and sleep. Wake up next day and take one more picture of hand.

8. Take E.R. doctors advice, "Next year you won't buy fireworks because they're all made in China and they are all crap. Just crap. Fireworks are worthless and terribly made." Haha.

9. Laugh about it. :) And try not to burn hand (or any body part) with fireworks next year because it hurts!

What a great 4th of July :) Happy Birthday America!!

My First 2 Quilts

I had some time on my hands, so I decided to learn how to and actually make a quilt from start to finish. Picking out the fabrics, cutting the fabric, putting the pieces together, sewing them all etc. And here's how my first 2 turned out!

Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that one all finished but I do have this one all done:

They turned out a lot better than I thought at first. Now I have a quilting bug and want to make more!! Here are some quilts I'd love to make in the future! :)

What Love Is Really Like

I guess I used to think that love was supposed to be like the movie "The Notebook". Mostly because I love that movie; the crazy out of control love, passion that burned like wildfire in their lives, the gradual ascent the little steps that lead them to that love, the part where she sees him in the newspaper and the spark is lit and she has to go see him one "last time", the ride on the river that ends with kissing in the rain, the moment when she pulls back up to the house and she just shrugs her shoulders as if she couldn't help but return to him and finally the part at the end when they die together in the same bed holding hands as their last gesture in this life together.

When I look back on the time I've known Kevin and the first time I realized that I loved him, my life has been a less compacted version of the notebook, it didn't take place in an hour and a half, but over a year. I didn't at first think that Kevin and my love could even live up to the love of "The Notebook" or any Nicholas Sparks movie for that matter, but it does! Just because their isn't an hour and a half movie about it, that's no reason our love isn't as strong. I say this because loving Kevin completely swept me off my feet and took me by surprise, I can't even believe it now.

I wasn't sure about marrying Kevin because the world made me think that my love had to be crazy and passionate and take my breath away from me all the time, it didn't then but it does now. Marrying Kevin was the best decision I have ever made. Our love was a little seed when we were dating, I don't even think we knew what love was then; now that we're married it's growing even more. It won't become a tree or a flower or what it's meant to be for many years to come. That's why "the notebook" is so great, because it shows their love turn into a flower. A young love that keeps through time and hardships and struggles... one of my favorite lines from that movie:
Young Noah: Would you just stay with me?
Young Allie: Stay with you? What for? Look at us, we're already fightin'
Young Noah: Well that's what we do, we fight... You tell me when I am being an arrogant son of a bitch and I tell you when you are a pain in the ass. Which you are, 99% of the time. I'm not afraid to hurt your feelings. You have like a 2 second rebound rate, then you're back doing the next pain-in-the-ass thing.
Young Allie: So what?
Young Noah: So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day.

That's what love is, working at it every day and looking back to see the miracles that happened in your love along the way. One of the biggest reasons I decided to marry Kevin is because a wise friend told me a story about the first time she remembered being in love with her husband, and that's what she held onto when times were hard. That's what I do too. I remember being on Lake Shasta holding on to Kevin while we rode around on the seadoo; he hopped off to go on this rope swing and left me on the seadoo... as he flipped off that rope swing, I knew I loved that crazy, adventurous boy. :) For some reason I knew then without a doubt that there was something special about him, that's a memory that I will keep in my heart forever... love comes easy, not hard... and that's what love really is.

Getting Farther Away

This picture is how I feel right now. Kevin is in Minnesota and I'm here in Utah (health reasons), we're separated by 1,286 miles--20 hours of driving. It's hard to be apart from each other, my heart goes out to all those wives whose husbands are in the military and are separated from their husbands for a long time. It's been less than a week for me and I miss him like crazy. Being married is great because you have someone there for you all the time, someone who is always on your side, always there to support you and listen to you, who loves you no matter what. It's so great to be married, but I miss having my husband with me all the time. I can't wait to go back to Minnesota and be with him, who knows how long that's going to be though. Just waiting on the doctors to speed things along. I'm glad there is skype, and phone calls and texting- that helps but it's not the same. He was having a rough day at work so he called me to vent, I just wished that I could be there with him! Sigh...

Dive For Dreams

By E.E. Cummings

dive for dreams
or a slogan may topple you
(trees are their roots
and wind is wind)

trust your heart
if the seas catch fire
(and live by love
though the stars walk backward)

honour the past
but welcome the future
(and dance your death
away at this wedding)

never mind a world
with its villains or heroes
(for god likes girls
and tomorrow and the earth)

Lack of Luster

Sigh.

I don't know what other way to start out this blog! I keep reading on facebook about all these amazing trips people are going on and adventures other people are having and I'm jealous. I want to go on an adventure/vacation too! My younger sister is in Jerusalem for the summer for crying out loud! She went to turkey last week... and for those of you who don't know, Turkey is beautiful! (A favorite vacation spot for many people I met in England though I've never actually been there.) This is my rant of jealousy and nostalgia for the past vacations and adventures I have been on. Don't get me wrong, Minnesota is an adventure and we've seen some cool things and I've never been to so many free zoos BUT Kevin is just so wrapped up in work that my adventures are often cut short OR not taken at all. For example, I want to go see one of the great lakes, I want to visit Chicago, I want to go up Duluth and drive through the pretty scenery, I want to go to Nauvoo and see the church history sites around there, I'd love to be able to go to my friend Brooke Rodda's wedding in Kentucky. I want to see things but alas as Kevin often reminds me, "we are here to work." I am sick of working, when does the fun start!! Haha :)

Pictures from past adventures I wish I could repeat! And no pictures from places I still want to visit

*WARNING* Lots of pictures

New York City!

New Orleans

Camping

Canada

Yellowstone

Bryce Canyon

Lake Shasta

Motorcycle Riding in the desert

Zion National Park

Mexico

Seattle :)

England